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Publish ' . ,..11818. 



Curtalta jfttscellanea, 

OR 

ANECDOTES OF OLD TIMES; 
REGAL, NOBLE, GENTILITIAL, 

AND 

MISCELLANEOUS: 

INCLUDING AUTHENTIC ANECDOTES OF 

THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD, 

AND THE 

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE COURT, 

AT AN EARLY PERIOD OF THE 

OEngftsf) ©istorg. 

By SAMUEL PEGGE, Esa. F.S.A. 

Author of the " CURIALIA/' 

AND OF 

"ANECDOTES OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE." 



PRINTED BY AND FOR J. NICHOLS, SON, AND BENTLEY, 

O 

AT THE PRINTING-OFFICE OF THE VOTES OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, 

25, PARLIAMENT STREET, AND 10, KING STREET, WESTM INSTER ' 

SOLD ALSO AT THEIR OLD OFFICE IN RED LION PASSAGE, 

FLEET STREET, LONDON. 



1818. 




4 






LIST OF PLATES. 

Portrait of the Rev. Samuel Pegge, LL.D. Frontispiece. 
Whittington Church - - p. lix. 
Rectory - - lxii. 

■ — Revolution House - -■■-'.'- - Ixiii. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



The publication of this Volume is strictly 
conformable to the testamentary intentions of 
the Author, who consigned the MSS. for that 
express purpose to the present Editor *- 

Mr. Pegge had, in his life -time, published 
Three Portions of " Curialia, or an Account 
of some Members of the Royal Houshold ;" 
and had, with great industry and laborious 
research, collected materials for several other 
Portions, some of which were nearly com- 
pleted for the press. 

* See the Extract in page vi. 



IV ADVERTISEMENT. 

Mr.Pegge was "led into the investigation," 
he says, " by a natural and kind of instinc- 
tive curiosity, and a desire of knowing what 
was the antient state of the Court to which 
he had the honour, by the favour of his 
Grace William the late Duke of Devonshire, 
to compose apart/' 

Two more Portions were printed in 1806 
by the present Editor. Long, however, and 
intimately acquainted as he was with the ac- 
curacy and diffidence of Mr. Pegge, he would 
have hesitated in offering those posthumous 
Essays to the Publick, if the plan had 
not been clearly defined, and the Essays 
sufficiently distinct to be creditable to the 
reputation which Mr. Pegge had already 
acquired, by the Parts of the " Curialia" 
published by himself, and by his very enter- 
taining (posthumous) " Anecdotes of the 
English Language ;" — a reputation which 



ADVERTISEMENT. V 

descended to him by Hereditary Right, and 
which he transmitted untarnished to a worthy 
and learned Son. 

It was the hope and intention of the Editor 
to have proceeded with some other Portions 
of the " Curialia ;" but the fatal event which 
(in February 1808) overwhelmed him in 
accumulated distress put a stop to that 
intention. Nearly all the printed Copies of 
the " Curialia" perished in the flames ; and 
part t>f the original MS. was lost. 

A few detached Articles, which related to 
the College of Arms, and to the Order of 
Knights Bachelors (which, had they been 
more perfect, would have formed one or more 
succeeding Portions) have since been depo- 
sited in the rich Library of that excellent 
College. 



VI ADVERTISEMENT. 

The Volume now submitted to the can- 
dour of the Reader is formed from the wreck 
of the original materials. The arranging of 
the several detached articles., and the revisal 
of them through the press, have afforded the 
Editor some amusement ; and he flatters him- 
self that the Volume will meet with that in- 
dulgence which the particular circumstances 
attending it may presume to claim. — If the 
Work has any merit, it is the Author's. 
The defects should, in fairness, be attributed 
to the Editor. J. N. 

Highbury Place, Dec. l, 1817. 



*** Extract from Mr. Pegge's Will. 

" Having the Copy-right of my little Work called Curialia in 
myself, I hereby give and bequeath all my interest therein, together 
with all my impressions thereof which may be unsold at the time of 
my decease, to my Friend Mr. John Nichols, Printer, with the ad- 
dition of as much money as will pay the Tax on this Legacy. I also, 
request of the said Mr. John Nichols, that he would carefully 
peruse and digest all my Papers and Collections on the above subject, 
and print them under the title of Curialia Miscellanea, or some such 
description. — There is also another Work of mine, not quite 6nished, 
intitled Anecdotes of the English Language, which I wish Mr. 
Nichols to bring forward from his Press. Samuel Pegge." 



( vii ) 

CONTENTS. 

PARENTALI A : or, Memoirs of the Rev. Dr. Samuel 

Pegge, compiled by his Son - Page ix — lviii 

Appendix to the Parentalia : 

Description of Whittington Church - lix 

Rectory - - lxii 

The Revolution House at Whittington ibid. 

Origin of the Revolution in 1688 - lxiv 

Celebration of the Jubilee in 1788 - - lxv 

Stanzas by the Rev. P. Cunningham - - lxxi 

Ode for the Revolution Jubilee - - lxxiii 

Extracts from Letters of Dr. Pegge to Mr. Gough lxxiv 

Memoirs of Samuel Pegge, Esq. by the Editor lxxvii 

Appendix of Epistolary Correspondence - lxxxiii 

Hospitium Domini Regis : 

or, The History of the Royal Household. 

Introduction - Page 1 

William I. ------ 6 

William Ruf us - - - - - IS 

Henry I. - - - - 24 

Stephen - - - - - - 38 

Henry II. (Plantagenet) - - 48 
Richard I. - - - - --63 

Henry IV. - - - - 68 

Edward IV. - - - - - 69 

Extracts from the Liber Niger - 71 

Knights and Esquires of the Body 73 

Gentleman Usher ■* - - 74 

Great Chamberlain of England 76 

Knights of Household - - - - 77 

Esquires of the Body 79 

Yeomen of the Crown - - - 84 



viii CONTENTS. 

A Barber for the King s most high and dread Person 86 

Henxmen - S8 

Master of Henxmen - 89 

Squires of Household - - - 91 

Kings of Arms, Heralds, and Pursuivants 95 

Serjeants of Arms - 97 

Minstrels -....- - - 99 

A Wayte - 101 

Clerk oi the Crown in Chancery - - 103 
Supporters, Crests, and Cognizances, of the Kings of 

England - - - - 104 

Regal Titles - - - 109 

On the Virtues of the Royal Touch - - 111 

Ceremonies for Healing, for King's Evil - 154 

Ceremonies for blessing Cramp-Rings - 164 
Stemmata Magnatum : Origin of the Titles of some of 

the English Nobility - - 173 

English Armorial Bearings - - 201 

Origin and Derivation of remarkable Surnames - 208 

Symbola Scotica : Mottoes, &c. of Scottish Families 213 

Dissertation on Coaches and Sedan Chairs - - 269 

the Hammer Cloth - - 304 

Articles of Dress.— Gloves - - 305 

Ermine — Gentlewomen's Apparel - - 312 

Apparel for the Heads of Gentlewomen - 313 

Mourning - - - - 314 

Beard, &c. - - 316 

Origin of the Name of the City of Westminster - 320 
Memoranda relative to the Society of the Temple in 

London, written in 1760 - - 323 
Dissertation on the Use of Simnel Bread, and the 

Derivation of the Word Simnel - - 329 
Historical Essay on the Origin of " Thirteen Pence 

Half-penny," as Hangman's Wages - 331 

Custom observed by the Lord Lieutenants of Ireland 349 



^arentalta : 



OR, 



MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. PEGGE, 



COMPILED BY HIS SON. 



The Rev. Samuel Pegge, LL. D. and F. S. A. 

was the Representative of one of four Branches of 
the Family of that name in Derbyshire, derived 
from a common Ancestor, all which existed to- 
gether till within a few years. The eldest be- 
came extinct by the death of Mr. William Pegge, 
of Yeldersley, near Ashborne, IJ6S ; and another 
by that of the Rev. Nathaniel Pegge, M.A. Vicar 
of Packington, in Leicestershire, 1782. 

The Doctor's immediate Predecessors, as may 
appear from the Heralds-office, were of Osmaston, 
near Ashborne, where they resided, in lineal suc- 
cession, for four generations, antecedently to his 

b 



X BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF 

Father and himself, and where they left a patri- 
monial inheritance, of which the Doctor died 
possessed *. 

Of the other existing branch, Mr. Edward 
Pegge having [1662] married Gertrude, sole 
daughter and heir of William Strelley, Esq. of 
Beauchief, in the Northern part of Derbyshire, 
seated himself there, and was appointed High 
Sheriff of the County in 166J ; as was his Grand- 
son, Strelley Pegge, Esq. 1739; and his Great- 
grandson, the present Peter Pegge, Esq. 178S. 

It was by Katharine Pegge, a daughter of 
Thomas Pegge, Esq. of Yeldersley, that King 
Charles II. (who saw her abroad during his exile) 
had a son born (1647), whom he called Charles 
Fit z- Charles, to whom he granted the Royal arms, 
with a baton sinister, Vaire, and whom (1675) 
his Majesty created Earl of Plymouth, Viscount 
Totness, and Baron Dartmouth ^. He was bred 
to the Sea, and, having been educated abroad, 
most probably in Spain, was known by the name 
of Don Carlos J. The Earl married the Lady 
Bridget Osborne, third Daughter of Thomas Earl 

* Tn Church- street, at Ashborne, is an Alms-house, ori- 
ginally founded by Christopher Pegge, Esq. The name occurs 
also on the table of Benefactors in Ashborne Church. 

f Docquet-book in the Crown-office. 

% See Sandford, p. 647, edit. 1707. Granger erroneously 
calls him Carlo ; and also, by mistake, gives him the name of 
Fitz-mu. 



THE REV. DR. SAMUEL PEGGE. XI 

of Danby, Lord High Treasurer (at Wimbledon, 
in Surrey), 1G78 *,.. and died of a flux at the 
siege of Tangier, 1680, without issue. The body- 
was brought to England, and interred in West- 
minster Abbey ~f~. The Countess re-married Dr. 
Philip Bisse, Bishop of Hereford, by whom she 
had no issue ; and who, surviving her, erected a 
handsome tablet to her memory in his Cathedral. 
Katharine Pegge, the Earl's mother, married Sir 
Edward Greene, Bart, of Samford in Essex, and 
died without issue by him J. 

But to return to the Rev. Dr. Pegge, the outline 
only of whose life we propose to give. His Father 
(Christopher) was, as we have observed, of Os- 
maston, though he never resided there, even after 
he became possessed of it ; for, being a younger 
Brother, it was thought proper to put him to 
business ; and he served his time with a consi- 
derable woollen-draper at Derby, which line he 
followed till the death of his elder Brother (Hum- 
phry, who died without issue 1711) at Chester- 

* See Mr. Lysons's Environs of London, vol. I. p. 537- 
f Dart's History of Westminster Abbey, vol. II. p. 55. 
% There is a half-length portrait of the Earl, in a robe de 
chambre, laced cravat, and flowing hair (with a ship in the 
back ground of the picture), by Sir Peter Lely, now in the 
family : and also two of his Mother, Lady Greene ; one a half- 
length, with her infant Son standing: by her side; the other, 
a three-quarters ; both either by Sir Peter Lely, or by one of 
hi* pupils. 

b2 



XII BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OtV 

field in Derbyshire, when he commenced lead- 
merchant, then a lucrative branch of tfaffick 
there ; and, having been for several years a Mem- 
ber of the Corporation, died in his third Mayor- 
alty, 1723. 

He had married Gertrude Stephenson (a daugh- 
ter of Francis Stephenson, of Unston, near Ches- 
terfield, Gent.) whose Mother was Gertrude Pegge, 
a Daughter of the before-mentioned Edward 
Pegge, Esq. of Beauchief; by which marriage 
these two Branches of the Family, which had 
long been diverging from each other, became re- 
united, both by blood and name, in the person of 
Dr. Pegge, their only surviving child. 

He was born Nov. 5, 1704, N. S. at Chester- 
field, where he had his school education ; and was 
admitted a Pensioner of St. John's College, Cam- 
bridge, May 30, 1722, under the tuition of the 
Bev. Dr. William Edmundson ; was matriculated 
July 7 ; and, in the following November, was 
elected a Scholar of the House, upon Lupton's 
Foundation. 

In the same year with his Father (1723) died 
the Heir of his Maternal Grandfather (Stephen- 
son), a minor ; by whose death a moiety of the 
real estate at Unston (before-mentioned) became 
the property of our young Collegian, who was 



THE REV. DR. SAMUEL PEGGE. X1U 

then pursuing his academical studies with inten- 
tion of taking orders. 

Having, however, no immediate prospect of 
preferment, he looked up to a Fellowship of the 
College, after he had taken the degree of A.B. in 
January 1725, N.S. ; and became a candidate 
upon a vacancy which happened favourably in 
that very year ; for it was a Lay-fellowship upon 
the Beresford Foundation, and appropriated to 
the Founder's kin, or at least confined to a Native 
of Derbyshire. 

The competitors were, Mr. Michael Burton 
(afterwards Dr. Burton), and another, whose 
name we do not find ; but the contest lay be- 
tween Mr. Burton and Mr. Pegge. Mr. Burton 
had the stronger claim, being indubitably related 
to the Founder ; but, upon examination, was de- 
clared to be so very deficient in Literature, that 
his superior right, as Founder's kin, was set aside, 
on account of the insufficiency of his learning; 
and Mr. Pegge was admitted, and sworn Fellow 
March 21, 1 7 26, O. S. 

In consequence of this disappointment, Mr. 
Burton was obliged to take new ground, to enable 
him to procure an establishment in the world ; 
and therefore artfully applied to the College for 
a testimonial, that he might receive orders, and 
undertake some cure in the vicinity of Cambridge* 



XIV BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF 

Being ordained, he turned the circumstance into 
a manoeuvre, and took an unexpected advantage 
of it, by appealing to the Visitor [the Bishop of 
Ely, Dr. Thomas Greene], representing, that, as 
the College had, by the testimonial, thought 
him qualified for Ordination, it could not, in 
justice, deem him unworthy of becoming a 
Fellow of the Society, upon such forcible claims 
as Founder's kin, and also as a Native of Derby- 
shire. 

These were irresistible pleas on the part of 
Mr. Burton ; and the Visitor found himself re- 
luctantly obliged to eject Mr. Pegge ; when Mr, 
Burton took possession of the Fellowship, which 
he held many years *. 

Thus this business closed ; but the Visitor did 
Mr. Pegge the favour to recommend him, in so 
particular a manner, to the Master and Seniors 
of the College, that he was thenceforward consi- 
dered as an honorary member of the body of 
Fellows (tanquam SociusJ, kept his seat at their 
table and in the chapel, being placed in the situa- 
tion of a Fellow-commoner. 

In consequence, then, of this testimony of the 
Bishop of Ely's approbation, Mr. Pegge was 

* Dr. Burton was President (i. e. Vice-master of the Col- 
lege) when Mr. Pegge's Son was admitted of it, 1751 j but 
soon afterwards took the Rectory of Stapkhurst in Kent, 
which he held till his death in 1759. 



THE REV. DR. SAMUEL PEGGE. XV 

chosen a Platt-fellow on the first vacancy, A. D. 
1720*. He was therefore, in fact, twice a Fel- 
low of St. John's. 

There is good reason to believe that, in the in- 
terval between his removal from his first Fellow- 
ship, and his acceding to the second, he medi- 
tated the publication of Xenophon's ee Cyropcedia* 
and " Anabasis" from a collation of them with a 
Duport MS. in the Library at Eton — to convince 
the world that the Master and Seniors of St. 
John's College did not judge unworthily in giving 
him so decided a preference to Mr. Burton in 
their election. 

It appears that he had made very large collections 
for such a work ; but we suspect that it was thrown 
aside on being anticipated by Mr. Hutchinson's 
Edition, which was formed from more valuable 
manuscripts. 

* The Piatt- fellowships at St. John's are similar to what 
are called Bye-fellowships in some other Colleges at Cambridge, 
and are not on the Foundation. The original number was 
six, with a stipend of 20/. per annum each, besides rooms, and 
commons at the Fellows' table. They were founded by Wil- 
liam Piatt, Esq. (Son of Sir Hugh Piatt, Knt.) an opulent 
citizen of London, out of an estate then of the annual value 
of 140/. Being a rent-charge, the Fellowships cannot be en- 
larged in point of revenue, though the number has been in- 
creased to eight, by savings from the surplus. There is a good 
portrait of Mr. Piatt in the Master's Lodge at St. John's, with 
the date of 1626, set. 47. He died in 1637. More of him may 
be seen in Mr. Lysons's Environs of London, vol. III. pp. 59? 
£6,70,71,110,376. 



XVI BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF 

He possessed a MS " Lexicon Xenophonticum" 
by himself as well as a Greek Lexicon in MS. ; 
and had also " x\n English Historical Dictionary,'* 
in 6 volumes folio ; a French and Italian, a Latin, 
a British and Saxon one, in one volume each ; all 
corrected by his notes ; a (c Glossarium Generale ;" 
and two volumes of "Collections in English His- 
tory." 

During his residence in Kent, Mr. Pegge 
formed a " Monasticon Cantianum, in two folio 
MS volumes ; a MS Dictionary for Kent ; an 
Alphabetical List of Kentish Authors and Wor- 
thies ; Kentish Collections; Places in Kent; and 
many large MS additions to the account of that 
county in the " Magna Britannia.'' 

He also collected a good deal relative to the 
College at Wye, and its neighbourhood, which he 
thought of publishing, and engraved the seal, be- 
fore engraved in Lewis's Seals. He had "Extracts 
from the Rental of the Royal Manor of Wye, 
made about 1430, in the hands of Daniel Earl of 
Winchelsea; ,, and " Copy of a Survey and Rental 
of the College, in the possession of Sir Windham 
Knatchbull, 1739." 

While resident in College (and in the year 
1730) Mr. Pegge was elected a Member of the 
Zodiac Club, a literary Society, which consisted 
of twelve members, denominated from the Twelve 



THE REV. DR. SAMUEL PEGGE. XVII 

Signs. This little institution was founded, and 
articles, in the nature of statutes, were agreed 
upon Dec. 10, 1725. Afterwards (172S) this So- 
ciety thought proper to enlarge their body, when 
six select additional members were chosen, and 
denominated from six of the Planets, though it 
still went collectively under the name of the 
Zodiac Club *. In this latter class Mr. Pegge 
was the original Mars, and continued a member of 
the Club as long as he resided in the University, 
His secession was in April 1732, and his seat ac^ 
cordingly declared vacant. 

In the same year, 1730, Mr. Pegge appears in 
a more public literary body ; — among the Mem- 
bers of the Gentlemen's Society at Spalding, in 
Lincolnshire, to which he contributed some pa- 
pers which will be noticed below -j~. 

* Of this little academical literary Society the late Samuel 
Pegge, Esq. possessed a particular History in MS. Edit. 

f In 1733. his Life of Archbishop Kempe was in forward- 
ness for press, and he solicited assistance for it from MSS. 

In 1734, lie sent them a critical letter on the name and 
town of Wye. 

In i739, an Account of a Religious House in Canterbury, 
not noticed before, his conjectures on which were approved 
by Mr. Thorpe. 

An Account of the Endowment of the Vicarage of West- 
field in Sussex, by Richard second Bishop of Chichester, 
1249, in the hands of Sir Peter Webster, Bart. 

Account of the Amphitheatre in the Garden of the Nuns 
of Fidelite at Angers: the arena 150 feet diameter, outer wall 
20 feet thick, the caveae 1 4 feet long and wide, with layers 
of Roman brick and stone 3 or 4 feet asunder. 



XVlll BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF 

Having taken the degree of A. M. in July 
1729, Mr. Pegge was ordained Deacon in De- 
cember in the same year ; and, in the February 
following, received Priest's orders ; both of which 
were conferred by Dr. William Baker, Bishop of 
Norwich. 

It was natural that he should now look to em- 
ployment in his profession ; and, agreeably to his 
wishes, he was soon retained as Curate to the 
Rev. Dr. John Lynch (afterwards [1733] Dean 
of Canterbury), at Sundrich in Kent, on which 
charge he entered at Lady-day 1730 ; and in his 
Principal, as will appear, soon afterwards, very 
unexpectedly, found a Patron. 

The Doctor gave Mr. Pegge the choice of three 
Cures under him — of Sundrich, of a London 
Living, or the Chaplainship of St. Cross, of 
which the Doctor was then Master. Mr. Pegge 
preferred Sundrich, which he held till Dr. Lynch 
exchanged that Rectory for Bishopsbourne, and 
then removed thither at Midsummer 1731. 

Within a few months after this period, Dr. 
Lynch, who had married a daughter of Archbi- 
shop Wake, obtained for Mr. Pegge, unsolicited, 
the Vicarage of Godmersham (cum Challock), 
into which he was inducted Dec. 6, 1731. 

We have said unsolicited, because, at the mo- 
ment when the Living was conferred, Mr. Pegge 



THE REV. DR. SAMUEL PEGGE. XIX 

had more reason to expect a reproof from his 
Principal, than a reward for so short a service of 
these Cures. The case was, that Mr. Pegge had, 
in the course of the preceding summer (unknown 
to Dr. Lynch) taken a little tour, for a few months, 
to Leyden, with a Fellow Collegian (John Stub- 
bing, M. B. then a medical pupil under Boer- 
haave), leaving his Curacy to the charge of some 
of the neighbouring Clergy. On his return, 
therefore, he was not a little surprized to obtain 
actual preferment through Dr. Lynch, without the 
most distant engagement on the score of the 
Doctor's interest with the Archbishop, or the 
smallest suggestion from Mr. Pegge. 

Being now in possession of a Living, and inde- 
pendent property, Mr. Pegge married (April 13, 
1732) Miss Anne Clarke, the only daughter of 
Benjamin, and sister of John Clarke, Esqrs. of 
Stanley, near Wakefield, in the county of York, 
by whom he had one Son [Samuel, of whom 
hereafter], who, after his Mother's death, became 
eventually heir to his Uncle ; and one Daughter, 
Anna-Katharina, wife of the Rev. John Bourne, 
M.A. ofSpital, near Chesterfield, Rector of Sut- 
ton cum Duckmanton, and Vicar of South Win- 
field, both in Derbyshire; by whom she had two 
daughters, Elizabeth, who married Robert Jen- 



XX BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF 

nings, Esq. and Jane, who married Benjamin 
Thompson, Esq. 

While Mr. Pegge was resident in Kent, where 
he continued twenty years, he made himself ac- 
ceptable to every body, by his general knowledge, 
his agreeable conversation, and his vivacity; for 
he was received into the familiar acquaintance of 
the best Gentlemen's Families in East Kent, 
several of whom he preserved in his correspond- 
ence after he quitted the county, till the whole 
of those of his own standing gave way to fate 
before him. 

Having an early propensity to the study of 
Antiquity among his general researches, and being 
allowedly an excellent Classical Scholar, he here 
laid the foundation of what in time became a con- 
siderable collection of books, and his little cabinet 
of Coins grew in proportion ; by which two as- 
semblages (so scarce among Country Gentlemen 
in general) he was qualified to pursue those col- 
lateral studies, without neglecting his parochial 
duties, to which he was always assiduously atten- 
tive. 

The few pieces which Mr. Pegge printed while 
he lived in Kent will be mentioned hereafter, 
when we shall enumerate such of his Writings 
as are most material. These (exclusively of Mr. 
Urbaris obligations to him in the Gentleman's 



THE REV. DR. SAMUEL PEGGE. XXI 

Magazine) have appeared principally, and most 
conspicuously, in the Arch&ologia, which may be 
termed the Transactions of the Society of Anti- 
quaries. In that valuable collection will be found 
more than fifty memoirs, written and communi- 
cated by him, many of which are of considerable 
length, being by much the greatest number 
hitherto contributed by any individual member 
of that respectable Society. 

In returning to the order of time, we find that, 
in July 1746", Mr. Pegge had the great misfortune 
to lose his Wife ; whose monumental inscription, 
at Godmersham, bears ample testimony of her 
worth : 

" MDCCXLVI. 

Anna Clarke, uxor Samuelis Pegge 

Vicarii hujus parochiae ; 

Mulier, si qua alia, sine dolo, 

Vitam aeternam et beatam fidenter hie sperat ; 

nee erit frustra." 

This event entirely changed Mr. Pegge's desti- 
nations ; for he now zealously meditated on some 
mode of removing himself, without disadvantage, 
into his Native County. To effect this, one of 
two points was to be carried; either to obtain 
some piece of preferment, tenable in its nature 
with his Kentish Vicarage ; or to exchange the 



XXII BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF 

latter for an equivalent ; in which last he event- 
ually succeeded beyond his immediate expecta- 
tions. 

We are now come to a new epoch in the Doc- 
tor's life; but there is an interval of a few years to 
be accounted for, before he found an opportunity 
of effectually removing himself into Derbyshire. 
His Wife being dead, his Children young and 
at school, and himself reduced to a life of soli- 
tude, so ungenial to his temper (though no man 
was better qualified to improve his leisure) ; he 
found relief by the kind offer of his valuable 
Friend, Sir Edward Dering, Bart. 

At this moment Sir Edward chose to place his 
Son * under the care of a private Tutor at home, 
to qualify him more competently for the Univer- 
sity. Sir Edward's personal knowledge of Mr, 
Pegge, added to the Family situation of the latter, 
mutually induced the former to offer, and the 
latter to accept, the proposal of removing from 
Godmersham to Surrenden (Sir Edward's man- 
sion-house) to superintend Mr. Dering's education 
for a short time ; in which capacity he continued 
about a year and a half, till Mr. Dering was 
admitted of St. John's College, Cambridge, in 
March 1751. 

* Afterwards Sir Edward Dering, the sixth Baronet of that 
Familv, who died Dec. 8, 1798. 



THE REV. DR. SAMUEL PEGGE. XXlll 

Sir Edward had no opportunity, by any pa- 
tronage of his own, permanently to gratify Mr. 
Pegge, and to preserve him in the circle of their 
common Friends. On the other hand, finding 
Mr. Pegge' s propensity to a removal so very 
strong, Sir Edward reluctantly pursued every 
possible measure to effect it. 

The first vacant living in Derbyshire which of- 
fered itself was the Perpetual Curacy of Bramp- 
ton, near Chesterfield; a situation peculiarly eli- 
gible in many respects. It became vacant in 
1747 ; and, if it could have been obtained, would 
have placed Mr. Pegge in the centre of his early 
acquaintance in that County ; and, being tenable 
with his Kentish living, would not have totally 
estranged him from his Friends in the South of 
England. The patronage of Brampton is in the 
Dean of Lincoln, which Dignity was then filled 
by the Rev. Dr. Thomas Cheyney ; to whom, 
Mr. Pegge being a stranger, the application was 
necessarily to be made in a circuitous manner, and 
he was obliged to employ more than a double 
mediation before his name could be mentioned to 
the Dean. 

The mode he proposed was through the influ- 
ence of William the third Duke of Devonshire; 
to whom Mr. Pegge was personally known as a 
Derbyshire man (though he had so long resided 
in Kent), having always paid his respects to his 



XXIV BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIXS OF 

Grace on the public days at Chatsworth, as often 
as opportunity served, when on a visit in Derby- 
shire. Mr. Pegge did not, however, think him- 
self sufficiently in the Duke's favour to make a 
direct address for his Grace's recommendation to 
the Dean of Lincoln, though the object so fully 
met his wishes in moderation, and in every other 
point. He had, therefore, recourse to a friend, 
the Right Rev. Dr. Fletcher, Bishop of Dromore, 
then in England ; who, in conjunction with 
Godfrey Watkinson, of Brampton Moor, Esq. 
(the principal resident Gentleman in the parish of 
Brampton) solicited, and obtained, his Grace's 
interest with the Dean of Lincoln : who, in con- 
sequence, nominated Mr. Pegge to the living. 

One point now seemed to be gained towards 
his re-transplantation into his native soil, after 
he had resisted considerable offers had he con- 
tinued in Kent ; and thus did he think himself 
virtuall} 7 in possession of a living in Derbyshire, 
which in its nature was tenable with Godmersham 
in Kent. Henceforward, then, he no doubt felt 
a satisfaction that he should soon be enabled to 
live in Derbyshire, and occasionally visit his 
friends in Kent, instead of residing in that county, 
and visiting his friends in Derbyshire. 

But, after all this assiduity and anxiety (as if 
admission and ejection had pursued him a second 






THE REV. DR. SAMUEL PEGGE. XXV 

time), the result of Mr. Pegge's expectations was 
far from answering his then present wishes ; for, 
when he thought himself secure by the Dean's 
nomination, and that nothing was wanting but 
the Bishops licence, the Dean's right of Patron- 
age was controverted by the Parishioners of 
Brampton, who brought forward a Nominee of 
their own. 

The ground of this claim, on the part of the 
Parish, was owing to an ill-judged indulgence of 
some former Deans of Lincoln, who had occa- 
sionally permitted the Parishioners to send an 
Incumbent directly to the Bishop for his licence, 
without the intermediate nomination of the Dean 
in due form. 

These measures were principally fomented by 
the son of the last Incumbent, the Rev. Seth 
Ellis, a man of a reprobate character, and a dis- 
grace to his profession, who wanted the living, 
and was patronized by the Parish He had a 
desperate game to play ; for he had not the least 
chance of obtaining any preferment, as no indi- 
vidual Patron, who was even superficially ac- 
quainted with his moral character alone, could 
with decency advance him in the church. To 
complete the detail of the fate of this man, whose 
interest the deluded part of the mal-contents of 
the parish so warmly espoused, he was soon after 



XXVI BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF 

suspended by the Bishop from officiating at 
Brampton *. 

Whatever inducements the Parish might have 
to support Mr. Ellis so strenuously we do not 
say, though they manifestly did not arise from 
any pique to one Dean more than to another ; and 
we are decidedly clear that they were not founded 
in any aversion to Mr. Pegge as an individual ; 
for his character was in all points too well esta- 
blished, and too well known (even to the leading 
opponents to the Dean), to admit of the least per- 
sonal dislike in any respect. So great, neverthe- 
less, was the acrimony with which the Parishioners 
pursued their visionary pretensions to the Patron- 
age, that, not content with the decision of the 
Jury (which was highly respectable) in favour of 
the Dean, when the right of Patronage was tried 
in 1748 ; they had the audacity to carry the cause 
to an Assize at Derby, where, on the fullest and 
most incontestable evidence, a verdict was given 
in favour of the Dean, to the confusion and inde- 
lible disgrace of those Parishioners who espoused 

* The Bishop's Inhibition took place soon after the deci- 
sion of the cause at Derby, and was not revoked till late in 
the year 175S, which was principally effected by Mr. Pegge's 
intercession with his Lordship, stating Mr. Ellis's distressed 
circumstances, and his having made a proper submission, 
with a promise of future good behaviour. This revocation is 
contained in a letter addressed to Mr. Pegge, under the Bi- 
shop's own hand, dated Oct. 30, 1758. 



THE REV. DR. SAMUEL PEGGE. XXVll 

so bad a cause, supported by the most undaunted 
effrontery. 

The evidence produced by the Parish went to 
prove, from an entry made nearly half a century 
before in the accompts kept by the Church- 
wardens, that the Parishioners, and not the 
Deans of Lincoln, had hitherto, on a vacancy, 
nominated a successor to the Bishop of the Diocese 
for his licence, without the intervention of any 
other person or party. The Parish accompts 
were accordingly brought into court at Derby, 
wherein there appeared not only a palpable erase- 
ment, but such an one as was detected by a living 
and credible witness ; for, a Mr. Mower swore 
that, on a vacancy in the year 1704, an applica- 
tion was made by the Parish to the Dean of Lin- 
coln in favour of the Rev. Mr. Littlewood *. 

In corroboration of Mr. Mower's testimony, an 
article in the Parish accompts and expenditures of 
that year was adverted to, and which, when Mr* 
Mower saw it, ran thus : 

" Paid William Wilcoxon, for going to Lincoln 
to the Dean concerning Mr. Littlewood, five 
shillings." 

The Parishioners had before alleged, in proof 



* We believe this witness to have been George Mower, Esq. 
©f Wood-seats, in this county, who served the office of Shs* 
tiffin 1734, 

c2 



XXV111 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF 

of their title, that they had elected Mr. Little- 
wood ; and, to uphold this asseveration, had clum- 
sily altered the parish accompt-book, and inserted 
the words " to Lichfield to the Bishop," in the 
place of the words " to Lincoln to the Dean." 

Thus their own evidence was turned against the 
Parishioners ; and not a moment's doubt remained 
but that the patronage rested with the Dean of 
Lincoln. 

We have related this affair without a strict ad- 
herence to chronological order as to facts, or to 
collateral circumstances, for the sake of preserv- 
ing the narrative entire, as far as it regards the 
contest between the Dean of Lincoln and the 
Parish of Brampton ; for we believe that this 
transaction (uninteresting as it may be to the 
publick in general) is one of very few instances 
on record which has an exact parallel. 

The intermediate points of the contest, in which 
Mr. Pegge was more peculiarly concerned, and 
which did not prominently appear to the world, 
were interruptions and unpleasant impediments 
which arose in the course of this tedious process- 
He had been nominated to the Perpetual Curacy 
of Brampton by Dr. Cheyney, Dean of Lincoln ;. 
was at the sole expence of the suit respecting the 
right of Patronage, whereby the verdict was given 
in favour of the Dean ; and he was actually 



THE REV. DR. SAMUEL PEGGE. XXIX 

licensed by the Bishop of Lichfield. In conse- 
quence of this decision and the Bishop's licence, 
Mr. Pegge, not suspecting that the contest could 
go any farther, attended to qualify at Brampton, 
on Sunday, August 28, 1748, in the usual man- 
ner ; but was repelled by violence from entering 
the Church. 

In this state matters rested regarding the Pa- 
tronage of Brampton, when Dr. Cheyney was 
unexpectedly transferred from the Deanry of Lin- 
coln to the Deanry of Winchester, which (we 
may observe by the way) he solicited on motives 
similar to those which actuated Mr. Pegge at the 
very moment ; for Dr. Cheyney, being a Native 
of Winchester, procured an exchange of his 
Deanry of Lincoln with the Rev. Dr. William 
George, Provost of Queens college, Cambridge, 
for whom the Deanry of Winchester was intended 
by the Minister on the part of the Crown. 

Thus Mr. Pegge's interests and applications 
were to begin de novo with the Patron of Bramp- 
ton ; for, his nomination by Dr. Cheyney, in the 
then state of things, was of no validity. He fell, 
however, into liberal hands ; for his activity in 
the proceedings which had hitherto taken place 
respecting the living in question had rendered 
fresh advocates unnecessary, as it had secured the 
unasked favour of Dr. George, who not long after-* 



XXX BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF 

wards voluntarily gave him the Rectory of Whit- 
tington, near Chesterfield, in Derbyshire ; into 
which he was inducted Nov. 11, 1751, and where 
he resided for upwards of 44 years without inter- 
ruption *. 

Though Mr. Pegge had relinquished all farther 
pretensions to the living of Brampton before the 
cause came to a decision at Derby, yet he gave 
every possible assistance at the trial, by the com- 
munication of various documents, as well as by 
his personal evidence at the Assize, to support 
the claim of the new Nominee, the Rev. John 
Bowman, in whose favour the verdict was given, 
and who afterwards enjoyed the benefice. 

Here then we take leave of this troublesome 
affair, so nefarious and unwarrantable on the part 
of the Parishioners of Brampton ; and from 
which Patrons of every description may draw 
their own inferences. 

Mr. Pegge's ecclesiastical prospect in Derby- 
shire began soon to brighten ; and he ere long 
obtained the more eligible living of JVhittington. 
Add to this that, in the course of the dispute 

* Dr. George's letter to Mr. Pegge on the occasion has been 
preserved, and is conceived in the most manly and generous 
terms. On account of the distance, Mr. Pegge then residing 
in Kent, the Dean was so obliging as to concert matters with 
Bishop (Frederick) Cornwallis, who then sat at Lichfield, that 
the living might lapse without injury to Mr. Pegge, who 
therefore took it, in fact,, from lus Lordship by collation. 



THE REV. DR. SAMUEL PEGGE. XXXI 

concerning the Patronage of Brampton, he be- 
came known to the Hon. and Right Rev. Frede- 
rick (Cornwallis) Bishop of Lichfield and Coven- 
try ; who ever afterwards favoured him not only 
with his personal regard, but with his patronage, 
which extended even beyond the grave, as will be 
mentioned hereafter in the order of time. 

We must now revert to Mr. Pegge's old Friend 
Sir Edward Dering, who, at the moment when 
Mr. Pegge decidedly tock the living of JVhitting- 
ton, in Derbyshire, began to negotiate with his 
Grace of Canterbury (Dr. Herring), the Patron of 
Godmersham, for an exchange of that living for 
something tenable with Whittington. 

The Archbishop's answer to this applicatipn 
was highly honourable to Mr. Pegge : <e Why," 
said his Grace, " will Mr, Pegge leave my Dio- 
cese? If he will continue in Kent, I promise 
you, Sir Edward, th&t I will give him preferment 
to his satisfaction *.'* 

No allurements, however, could prevail ; and 
Mr. Pegge, at all events, accepted the Rectory of 

* Mr. Pegge became known, at least by name, to Dr. Her- 
ring, when Archbishop of York by an occasional Sermon 
(which will be adverted to among Mr. Pegge's writings), on 
the publication whereof his Grace sent him a letter in hand- 
some terms. When the Archbishop was translated to Canter- 
bury, Mr. Pegge was, most probably, personally known te 
him as the Diocesan. 



XXX11 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF 

Whittington, leaving every other pursuit of the 
kind to contingent circumstances. An exchange 
was, nevertheless, very soon afterwards effected, 
by the interest of Sir Edward with the Duke of 
Devonshire, who consented that Mr. Pegge should 
take his Grace's Rectory of Brinhill # in Lanca- 
shire, then luckily void, the Archbishop at the 
same time engaging to present the Dukes Clerk 
to Godmersham, Mr. Pegge was accordingly 
inducted into the Rectory of Br indie, Nov. 23, 
1751, in less than a fortnight after his induction 
at Whittington \. 

In addition to this favour from the Family of 
Cavendish, Sir Edward Dering obtained for Mr.. 
Pegge, almost at the same moment, a scarf from 
the Marquis of Hartington (afterwards the fourth 
Duke of Devonshire), then called up to the 
House of Peers, in June 1751, by the title of 
Baron Cavendish of Hardwick. Mr. Pegge's 
appointment is dated Nov. 18, 1751 ; and thus, 
after all his solicitude, he found himself possessed 
of two livings and a dignity, honourably and in- 
dulgently conferred, as well as most desirably 
connected, in the same year and in the same 
month ; though this latter circumstance may be 

* More usually called Brindle. 

t The person who actually succeeded to the Vicarage of 
Godmersham was the Rev. Aden Ley, who died there in 1766, 



THE REV. DR. SAMUEL PEGGE. XXX111 

attributed to the voluntary lapse of Whittington *. 
After Mr. Pegge had held the Rectory of Brin- 
hill for a few years, an opportunity offered, by 
another obliging acquiescence of the Duke of 
Devonshire, to exchange it for the living of 
Heath (alias Lown), in his Grace's Patronage, 
which lies within seven miles of Whittington : 
a very commodious measure, as it brought Mr. 
Pegge's parochial preferments within a smaller 
distance of each other. He was accordingly in- 
ducted into the Vicarage of Heath, Oct. 22, 1758, 
which he held till his death. 

This was the last favour of the kind which Mr. 
Pegge individually received from the Dukes of 
Devonshire ; but the Compiler of this little 
Memoir regarding his late Father, flatters himself 
that it can give no offence to that Noble Family 
if he takes the opportunity of testifying a sense of 
his own personal obligations toWilliam the fourth 
Duke of Devonshire, when his Grace was Lord 
Chamberlain of his Majesty's Household. 

As to Mr. Pegge's other preferments, they shall 
only be briefly mentioned in chronological order ; 



* Soon after the fourth Duke of Devonshire came of age, 
1769, finding that he had many friends of his own to oblige, 
it was suggested to the Senior Chaplains that a resignation 
would be deemed a compliment by his Grace. Mr. Pegge, 
therefore (among some others), relinquished his Chaplain- 
ship, though he continued to wear the scarf. 



XXXIV BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF 

but with due regard to his obligations. In the 
year 1765 he was presented to the Perpetual 
Curacy of IVingerworth, about six miles from 
Whittington, by the Honourable and Reverend 
James Yorke, then Dean of Lincoln, afterwards 
Bishop of Ely, to whom he was but little known 
but by name and character. This appendage was 
rendered the more acceptable to Mr. Pegge, be- 
cause the seat of his very respectable Friend Sir 
Henry Hunloke, Bart, is in the parish, from 
whom, and all the Family, Mr. Pegge ever 
received great civilities. 

We have already observed, that Mr. Pegge be- 
came known, insensibly as it were, to the Honour- 
able and Right Reverend Frederick (Cornwallis), 
Bishop of Lichfield, during the contest respect- 
ing the living of Brampton ; from whom he after- 
wards received more than one favour, and by 
whom another greater instance of regard was in- 
tended, as will be mentioned hereafter. 

Mr. Pegge was first collated by his Lordship to 
the Prebend of Bobenhull, in the Church of Lich- 
field, in 1757; and was afterwards voluntarily 
advanced by him to that of Whittington in 1.763, 
which he possessed at his death # . 

* It is rather a singular coincidence, that Mr. Pegge 
should have been at the same time Rector of Whittington in 
Derbyshire and Prebendary of Whittington in Staffordshire, both 



THE REV. DR. SAMUEL PEGGE. XXXV 

In addition to the Stall at Lichfield, Mr. Pegge 
Enjoyed the Prebend of Louth, in the Cathedral 
of Lincoln, to which he had been collated (in 
1772) by his old acquaintance, and Fellow- 
collegian, the late Right Reverend John Green, 
Bishop of that See *. 

This seems to be the proper place to subjoin, 
that, towards the close of his life, Mr. Pegge de- 
clined a situation for which, in more early days, 
he had the greatest predilection, and had taken 
everv active and modest measure to obtain-^ 
a Residentiary ship in the Church of Lichfield. 

Mr. Pegge's wishes tended to this point on 
laudable, and almost natural motives, as soon as 
his interest with the Bishop began to gain strength; 
for it would have been a very pleasant inter- 
change, at that period of life, to have passed a 
portion of the year at Lichfield. This expecta- 
tion, however, could not be brought forward till 
he was too far advanced in age to endure with 
tolerable convenience a removal from time to 

in one Diocese, under different patronages, and totally inde- 
pendent of each other. These two Whittingtons are likewise 
nearly equidistant from places of the name of Chesterfield. 

* The Prebend of Louth carries with it the Patronage of 
the Vicarage of the Parish of Louth, to which Mr. Pegge 
presented more than once. On the first vacancy, having no 
Clerk of his own, he offered the nomination to his Benefactor 
Bishop Green ; at the last, he gave the living, uninfluenced, 
to the present Incumbent, the Rev. fVolley Jolland, son of 
the Recorder of LoutU. 



XXXVI BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF 

time ; and therefore, when the offer was realized, 
he declined the acceptance. 

The case was literally this : While Mr. Pegge's 
elevation in the Church of Lichfield rested solely 
upon Bishop (Frederick) Cornwallis, it was se- 
cure, had a vacancy happened : but his Patron 
was translated to Canterbury in 1768, and Mr. 
Pegge had henceforward little more than personal 
knowledge of any of his Grace's Successors at 
Lichfield, till the Hon. and Right Reverend 
James Cornwallis (the Archbishop's Nephew) 
was consecrated Bishop of that See in 1781. 

On this occasion, to restore the balance in fa- 
vour of Mr. Pegge, the Archbishop had the kind- 
ness to make an Option of the Residentiary ship 
at Lichfield, then possessed by the Rev. Thomas 
Seward. It was, nevertheless, several years be- 
fore even the tender of this preferment could take 
place ; as his Grace of Canterbury died in 1783, 
while Mr. Seward was living. 

Options being personal property, Mr. Pegge's 
interest, on the demise of the Archbishop, fell into 
the hands of the Hon. Mrs. Cornwallis, his Relict 
and Executrix, who fulfilled his Grace's original 
intention in the most friendly manner, on the 
death of Mr. Seward, in 1790 * 

* It was said at the time, as we recollect, that this piece 
©f preferment was so peculiar in its tenure, as not to b^ 



THE REV. DR. SAMUEL FEGGE. XX&Vil 

The little occasional transactions which pri- 
marily brought Mr. Pegge within the notice of 
Bishop (Frederick) Cornwallis at Eccleshall- 
castle led his Lordship to indulge him with a 
greater share of personal esteem than has often 
fallen to the lot of a private Clergyman so re* 
motely placed from his Diocesan. Mr. Pegge 
had attended his Lordship two or three times on 
affairs of business, as one of the Parochial Clergy, 
after which the Bishop did hirn the honour to in- 
vite him to make an annual visit at Eccleshall- 
castle as an Acquaintances The compliance with 
this overture was not only very flattering, but 
highly gratifying, to Mr. Pegge, who consequently 
waited upon his Lordship for a fortnight in the 
Autumn, during several years, till the Bishop was 
translated to the Metropolitical See of Canter- 
bury in 1768. After this, however, his Grace 
did not forget his humble friend, the Rector of 



strictly optionable ; for, had the See of Lichfield been possessed 
by a Bihhop Inimical to the Archbishop or to Mr. Pegge at 
the time of the vacancy of the Stall, such Bishop might have 
defeated his Grace's intentions. The qualifications of the 
Residentiaries in this Cathedral we understand to be singular, 
dependent on the possession of certain Prebendal Homes, 
which are in the absolute disposal of the Bishop, as a sine, 
qud non, to constitute the eligibility which is vested in the 
Dean and Chapter. As matters stood, in this case, at the 
death of Mr. Seward, the present Bishop of Lichfield (Dr. 
James Cornwallis) , Mr. Pegge's warm Friend, co-operating 
with the Dowager Mrs. Cornwallis, removed every obstruction. 



XXXV1U BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS 6F 

IVJiittington, as will be seen; and sometimes 
corresponded with him on indifferent matters. 

About the same time that Mr. Pegge paid these 
visits at Eccleshall-castle, he adopted an expe- 
dient to change the scene, likewise, by a journey 
to London (between Easter and Whitsuntide) ; 
where, for a few years, he was entertained by his 
oldFriend and Fellow-collegian the Rev* Dr. John 
Taylor, F. S. A. Chancellor of Lincoln, &c. (the 
learned Editor of Demosthenes and Lysias), then 
one of the Residentiaries of St. Paul's. 

After Dr. Taylor's death (lj66), the Bishop of 
Lincoln, Dr. John Green, another old College- 
acquaintance, became Mr. Pegge' s London-host 
for a few years, till Archbishop Cornwallis began 
to reside at Lambeth. This event superseded the 
visits to Bishop Green, as Mr. Pegge soon after- 
wards received a very friendly invitation from his 
Grace; to whom, from that time, he annually 
paid his respects at Lambeth-palace, for a month 
in the Spring, till the Archbishop 's decease, which 
took place about Easter 1783* 

All these were delectable visits to a man of 
Mr* Pegge's turn of mind, whose conversation was 
adapted to every company, and who enjoyed the 
world with greater relish from not living in it 
every day. The society with which he inter- 
mixed, in such excursions, changed his ideas, 



THE REV. DR. SAMUEL PEGGE. XXXlX 

and relieved him from the iasdium of a life of 
much reading and retirement ; as, in the course 
of these journeys, he often had opportunities of 
meeting old Friends, and of making new literary 
acquaintance. 

On some of these occasions he passed for a 
week into Kent, among such of his old Associates 
as were then living, till the death of his much- 
honoured Friend, and former Parishioner, the 
elder Thomas Knight, Esq. of Godmersham, in; 
1781*. We ought on no account to omit the 
mention of some extra-visits which Mr. Pegge 
occasionally made to Bishop Green, at Buckden? 
to which we are indebted for the Life of that ex- 
cellent Prelate Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of 
Lincoln ; — a work upon which we shall only otn 
serve here, that it is Dr. Pegge' s chef-d'oeuvre, 
and merits from the world much obligation. To 
these interviews with Bishop Green, we may also 
attribute those ample Collections, which Dr. 
Pegge left among his MSS. towards a History of 
the Bishops of Lincoln, and of that Cathedral in 
general, &c. &c. 

With the decease of Archbishop Cornwallis 
(1783), Mr. Pegge's excursions to London termi* 

* The very just character of Mr. Knight given in the Gen- 
tleman's Magazine, vol. LI. p. 147, was drawn by Mr. Pegge^ 
who had been intimate with him very nearly half a century,, 



Xl BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF 

nated. His old familiar Friends, and principal 
acquaintance there, were gathered to their fathers; 
and he felt that the lot of a long life had fallen 
upon him, having survived not only the first, 
but the second class of his numerous distant con- 
nexions. 

While on one of these visits at Lambeth, the 
late Gustavus Brander, Esq. F. S. A. who enter- 
tained an uncommon partiality for Mr. Pegge, 
persuaded him, very much against his inclination, 
to sit for a Drawing, from which an octavo Print 
of him might be engraved by Basire. The Work 
went on so slowly, that the Plate was not finished 
till 1785, when Mr. Pegge's current age was 8l. 
Being a private Print, it was at first only intended 
for, and distributed among, the particular Friends 
of Mr. Brander and Mr. Pegge. This Print, 
however, now carries with it something of a pub- 
lication ; for a considerable number of the im- 
pressions were dispersed after Mr. Blunders 
death, when his Library, &c. were sold by auc- 
tion ; and the Print is often found prefixed to 
copies of " The Forme of Cury," a work which 
will hereafter be specified among Mr. Pegge's 
literary labours *. 

* This Print has the following inscription : 

" Samuel Pegge, A. M. S A. S. 
A.D. MDCCLXXXV. Mt.Sl. 



THE EEV. DR. SAMUEL PEGGE. xli 

Ihe remainder of Mr. Pegge's life after the 
year 17 S3 was, in a great measure, reduced to a 
state of quietude ; but not without an extensive 
correspondence with the world in the line of An- 
tiquarian researches : for he afterwards contri- 
buted largely to the Archceologia, and the Biblio- 
theca Topographica Britannica, &c. &c. as may 
appear to those who will take the trouble to com- 
pare the dates of his Writings, which will here- 
after be enumerated, with the time of which we 
are speaking. 

The only periodical variation in life, which at- 
tended Mr. Pegge after the Archbishop's death, 
consisted of Summer visits at Eccleshall-castle to 
the present Bishop (James) Cornwallis, who (if 



Impensis, et ex Voto, Gustavi Brander, Arm. 
Sibi et Amicis." 

We cannot in any degree subscribe to the resemblance, though 
the print is well engraved. There is, however, a three-quar- 
ters portrait in oil (in the possession of his grandson, Sir 
Christopher Pegge, and much valued by him) painted ill 
1788, by Mr. Elias Need-ham, a young Provincial Artist, and 
a native of Derbyshire, which does the Painter great credit, 
being a likeness uncommonly striking. Dr. Pegge being au 
old gentleman well known, with a countenance of much 
character, the Portrait was taken at the request of Mr. Need- 
ham j who, after exhibiting it to his Patrons and Friends, 
made a present of it to Mr. Pegge. Those who knew Dr. 
Pegge, and have had an opportunity of comparing the Portrait 
with the Print, will agree with us, that no two pictures of 
the same person, taken nearly at the same point of life, and so 
unlike each other, can both be true resemblances. — A faith- 
ful Engraving from Mr, Needham's Portrait is prefixed to the 
present Volume. 

d 



fcHi BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS Of 

we may be allowed the word) adopted Mr. Pegged 
as his guest so long as he was able to undertake 
such journeys, 

We have already seen an instance of his Lord- 
ship's kindness in the case of the intended Re- 
sidentiary ship ; and have, moreover, good reasons 
to believe that, had the late Archdeacon of Derby 
(Dr. Henry Egerton) died at an earlier stage of 
Mr. Pegge's life, he would have succeeded to that 
dignity. 

This part of the Memoir ought not to be dis- 
missed without observing, to the honour of Mr. 
Pegge, that, as it was not in his power to make 
any individual return (in his life-time) to his 
Patrons, the two Bishops of Lichfield of the name 
of Cornwallis, for their extended civilities, he 
directed, by testamentary instructions, that one 
hundred volumes out of his Collection of Books 
should be given to the Library of the Cathedral 
of Lichfield *. 

. During Mr. Pegge's involuntary retreat from 
his former associations with the more remote parts 
of the Kingdom, he was actively awake to such 
objects in which he was implicated nearer home. 

Early in the year 1788 material repairs and 
considerable alterations became necessary to the 

* He specified, in writing, about fourscore of these volumes, 
which were chiefly what may be called Library-books 5 the rest 
were added by his Sob. 



TfcE REV. DR. SAMUEL PEGGE. xliil 

Cathedral of Lichfield. A subscription was ac- 
cordingly begun by the Members of the Church, 
supported by many Lay-gentlemen of the neigh- 
bourhood \ when Mr. Pegge, as a Prebendary, not 
only contributed handsomely, but projected, and 
drew up, a circular letter, addressed to the Rev. 
Charles Hope, M. A. the Minister of All Saints 
(the principal) Church in Derby, recommending 
the promotion of this public design. The Letter, 
being inserted in several Provincial Newspapers, 
was so well seconded by Mr. Hope, that it had a 
due effect upon the Clergy and Laity of the 
Diocese in general; for which Mr. Pegge received 
a written acknowledgment of thanks from the 
present Bishop of Lichfield, dated May 29, 17 88* 
This year (3788), memorable as a Centenary iri 
the annals of England, was honourable to the 
little Parish of PFhittington, which accidentally 
bore a subordinate local part in the History of the 
Revolution ; for it was to an inconsiderable pub- 
lic-house there (still called the Revolution-house) 
that the Earl of Devonshire, the Earl of Danby, 
the Lord Delamere, and the Hon. John D'Arcy* 
were driven for shelter, by a sudden shower of 
rain, from the adjoining common (TVhittington- 
MoorJ, where they had met by appointment, 
disguised as farmers, to concert measures, un- 
observedly, for promoting the succession of 

d2 



xliv BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF 

King William III. after the abdication of King 
James II.* 

The celebration of this Jubilee, on Nov. 5, 
1788, is related at large in the Gentleman's Ma- 
gazine of that month "f"; on which day Mr. Pegge 
preached a Sermon £, apposite to the occasion, 
which was printed at the request of the Gentlemen 
of the Committee who conducted the ceremonial § 9 
which proceeded from his Church to Chesterfield 
in grand procession. 

In the year 1791 (July 8) Mr. Pegge was 
created D. C. L. by the University of Oxford, 
at the Commemoration. It may be thought a 
little extraordinary that he should accept an ad- 
vanced Academical Degree so late in life, as he 
wanted no such aggrandizement in the Learned 
World, or among his usual Associates, and had 
voluntarily closed all his expectations of eccle- 

* In this year he printed " A Narrative of what passed at the 
Revolution-house at Whittington in the year 1688, with a 
view and plan of the house by Major Rooke (reprinted in 
Gent. Mag. vol. LIX. p. 124)." '[See the Appendix.] 

f See the Appendix to this Memoir. 

I In this Discourse the venerable Preacher, taking for his 
text Psalm cxviii. 24, first recites, in plain and unaffected 
language, the blessings resulting from the event here com- 
memorated to Church and State 5 and then points out the cor- 
ruptions of the present age, with advice for their reformation. 

§ This solemnity took place on Wednesday; and, the Church 
being crowded with strangers, the Sermon was repeated to 
the parochial congregation on the following Sunday. — Mr. 
Pegge was then very old, and the 5th of November N. S. was 
his birth-day, when he entered into the S5th year of his age. 



THE REV. DR. SAMUEL PEGGE. xly 

siastical elevation. We are confident that he was 
not ambitious of the compliment ; for, when it 
was first proposed to him, he put a negative upon 
it. It must be remembered that this honour was 
not conferred on an unknown man (novus homo); 
but on a Master of Arts of Cam bridge, of name 
and character, and of acknowledged literary 
merits Had Mr. Pegge been desirous of the 
title of Doctor in earlier life, there can be no 
doubt but that he might have obtained the supe- 
rior degree of D.D. fromAbp.Cornwallis, upon the 
bare suggestion, during his familiar and domestic 
conversations with his Grace at Lambeth-palace. 

Dr. Pegge' s manners were those of a gentleman 
of a liberal education, who had seen much of the 
world, and had formed them upon the best models 
within his observation. Having in his early years 
lived in free intercourse with many of the princi- 
pal and best-bred Gentry in various parts of Kent; 
he ever afterwards preserved the same attentions, 
by associating with respectable company, and (as 
we have seen) by forming honourable attachments. 

In his avocations from reading and retirement, 
few men could relax with more ease and cheerful- 
ness, or better understood the desipere in loco; — 

* Mr. Pegge, at the time, was on a visit to his Grandson, 
the present Sir Christopher Pegge, M. D. then lately elected 
Reader of Anatomy at Christ Church, Oxford, on Dr. Lee's 
foundation. 



Xlvi BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF 

could enter occasionally into temperate convivial 
mirth with a superior grace, or more interest and 
enliven every company by general conversation. 

As he did not mix in business of a public 
nature, his better qualities appeared most conspi- 
cuously in private circles ; for he possessed an 
equanimity which obtained the esteem of his 
Friends, and an affability which procured the 
respect of his dependents. 

His habits of life were such as became his pro- 
fession and station. In his clerical functions he 
was exemplarily correct, not entrusting his pa- 
rochial duties at Whittington (where he con- 
stantly resided) to another (except to the neigh- 
bouring Clergy during the excursions before- 
mentioned) till the failure of his eye-sight ren- 
dered it indispensably necessary ; and even that 
did not happen till within a few years of his death. 

As a Preacher, his Discourses from the pulpit 
were of the didactic and exhortatory kind, appeal- 
ing to the understandings rather than to the pas- 
sions of his Auditory, by expounding the Holy 
Scriptures in a plain, intelligible, and unaffected 
manner. His voice was naturally weak, and 
suited only to a small Church; so that when he 
occasionally appeared before a large Congregation 
(as on Visitations, &c), he was heard to a disad- 
vantage. He left in his closet considerably more 



THE REV. DR. SAMUEL PEGGE. xlvii 

than 230 Sermons composed by himself, and in 
his own hand-writing, besides a few (not exceed- 
ing 26) which he had transcribed (in substance 
only, as appears by collation) from the printed 
works of eminent Divines. These liberties, how- 
ever, were not taken in his early days, from motives 
of idleness, or other attachments — but later in life, 
to favour the fatigue of composition ; all which 
obligations he acknowledged at the end of each 
such Sermon. 

Though Dr. Pegge's life was sedentary, from 
his turn to studious retirement, his love of Anti- 
quities, and of literary acquirements in general ; 
yet these applications, which he pursued with 
great ardour and perseverance, did not injure his 
health. Vigour of mind, in proportion to his 
bodily strength, continued unimpaired through a 
very extended course of life, and nearly till he had 
reached " ultima linea rerum :" for he never had 
any chronical disease ; but gradually and gently 
sunk into the grave under the weight of years, 
after a fortnight's illness, Feb. 14, IJ96 9 in the 
33d year of his age. 

He was buried, according to his own desire, in 
the chancel at Whit ting ton, where a mural tablet 
of black marble (a voluntary tribute of filial re- 
spect) has been placed, over the East window, 
with the following short inscription ; 



Xlviii BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF 

"At the North End of the Altar Table, within the Rails, 

lie the Remains of 

Samuel Pegge, LL. D. 

who was inducted to this Rectory Nov. 11, 1751, 

and died Feb. 14, 1796; 

in the 92d year of his Age." 

Having closed the scene ; it must be confessed, 
on the one hand, that the biographical history of 
an individual, however learned, or engaging to 
private friends, who had passed the major part of 
his days in secluded retreats from what is called 
the world, can afford but little entertainment to. 
the generality of Readers. On the other hand, 
nevertheless, let it be allowed that every man of 
acknowledged literary merit, had he made no 
other impression, cannot but have left many to 
regret his death. 

Though Dr. Pegge had exceeded even his 
"fourscore years and ten," and had outlived all 
his more early friends and acquaintance ; he had 
the address to make new ones, who now survive, 
and who, it is humbly hoped, will not be sorry to 
see a modest remembrance of him preserved by 
this little Memoir. 

Though Dr. Pegge had an early propensity to 
the pursuit of Antiquarian knowledge, he never 
indulged himself materially in it, so long as more 
essential and professional occupations had a claim 
upon him ; for he had a due sense of the nature 



THE REV. DR. SAMUEL PEGGE. xlix 

and importance of his clerical function. It ap- 
pears that he had read the Greek and Latin 
Fathers diligently at his outset in life. He had 
also re-perused the Classicks attentively before he 
applied much to the Monkish Historians, or en- 
gaged in Antiquarian researches ; well knowing 
that a thorough knowledge of the Learning of the 
Antients, conveyed by classical Authors, was the 
best foundation for any literary structure which 
had not the Christian Religion for its corner- 
stone. 

During the early part of his incumbency at 
Godmersham in Kent, his reading was principally 
such as became a Divine, or which tended to the 
acquisition of general knowledge, of which he 
possessed a greater share than most men we ever 
knew. When he obtained allowable leisure to 
follow unprofessional pursuits, he attached him- 
self more closely to the study of Antiquities ; and 
was elected a Fellow of the Society of Anti- 
quaries, Feb. 14, 1751, N. S. in which year the 
Charter of Incorporation was granted (in No- 
vember), wherein his name stands enrolled among 
those of many very respectable and eminently 
learned men *. 



* The only Member of the Society at the time of its In- 
corporation, who survived Dr. Pegge, was Samuel Reynard- 
son, Esq. 



1 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF 

Though we will be candid enough to allow that 
Dr. Pegge's style in general was not sufficiently 
terse and compact to be called elegant; yet he 
made ample amends by the matter, and by the 
accuracy with which he treated every copious 
subject, wherein all points were matured by close 
examination and sound judgment*. 

* The first Piece that appears to have been, in any degree, 
published by Dr. Pegge, was, A Latin Ode on the Death of King 
George I. 1/27. See "Academioe Cantabrigiensis Luctus " 
Signature Z. z. fol. b. [Dr. Pegge was then lately elected 
Fellow of St. John's College (the first time) as he signs it 
" Sam. Pegge, A. B. Coll. Div. Jon. Evang. Soc." See before, 
p. xiii.] — 1731. An irregular English Ode on Joshua vi. 20, 
which he contributed to a Collection of " Miscellaneous 
Poems and Translations," published (with a numerous sub- 
scription) by the Rev. Henry Travers, 1731, octavo, p. 170. 
[See " Anonymiana," p. 327, for an account of Mr. Travers, 
and this publication ] A marginal note in Dr. Pegge's copy 
of Mr. Travers's publication tells us, that this Ode was an 
academical exercise, when the Doctor was an under-graduatc 
at St. John's, which was sent to the Earl of Exeter. His 
Lordship's Ancestors had been Benefactors to the College, a 
circumstance which, we presume, gave rise to the custom of 
sending such "periodical exercises to the then Earl ; though 
the practice, as far as we know, does not continue. Thus, 
much of this Commemoration, as we believe, remains, that 
two Sermons are still annually preached (the one at Hatfield, 
and the other at Burleigh) by Fellows of the College, which 
we apprehend to have been enjoined by the Benefactor. The 
Ode, of which we have spoken, became some years after an 
auxiliary contribution to Mr. Travers s Collection from Dr. 
Pegge, jointly with other contemporaries, to relieve the 
Editor from some pecuniary embarrassments. — An Examina- 
tion of "The Enquiry into the meaning of Demoniacks in the 
New Testament ; in a Letter to the Author," 1739. An oc- 
tavo (of 86 pages), with his name prefixed. [This contro- 
versy originated from the Rev. Dr. Arthur-Ashley Sykes, who 
published "An Enquiry into the Meaning of the Demoniacks 



THE REV. DR. SAMUEL PEGGE. ll 

Frivolous as many detached morsels, scattered 
up and down in the Gentleman's Magazine, 
may appear to some Readers, they may be called 
the ruminations of a busy mind ; which shews an 
universality of reading, a love of investigation, 

in the New Testament" (1737), under the obscure signature 
of " T. P. A. P. O. A. B. I. T. C. O. S." The interpretation of 
this is, The Precentor And Prebendary Of ^lton-Borealis, In 
The Church Of Salisbury. Dr. Sykes had been vicar of God- 
mersham ; so that two vicars of Godmersharn became, in- 
cidentally, parties in the controversy. The question engaged 
several other Writers ; viz. Rev. Leonard T wells, Rev. Thomas 
Hutchinson, and Rev. William Whiston, who were followed 
by Dr. Pegge. He, however, entered so late into the lists, 
after the subject was almost worn out, that his Publication 
was not much attended to, though it attracted the applause 
of several competent judges, such as the Rev. Dr. Newcome, 
Master of St. John's College, Cambridge ; Rev. Dr. Taylor 
(late Residentiary of St. Paul's) ; the very learned Bp. Smal- 
broke j and some others.] — A Sermon on St. John i. 5 : " The 
Light Shineth in Darkness," preached on St. John's-day, 174 c 2, 
at Canterbury cathedral, and inscribed to his much-respected 
friend, Thomas Knight, Esq. of Godmersharn, in Kent. — A 
Sermon, preached also at Canterbury Cathedral during the 
Rebellion, 1746. [The avowed design of the Discourse was, to 
prove that " Popery was an encouragement to vice and im- 
morality." This Sermon attracted the civilities (mentioned 
in p. xxxi.) which Dr. Pegge received from Archbishop Herring.] 
These are the principal professional Publications by Dr. 
Pegge ; to which ought to be added some short pastoral and 
gratuitous printed distributions at various times ; viz. 1755. A 
Discourse on Confirmation (of 23 pages, octavo), being an 
enlarged Sermon, preached at Chesterfield previously to the 
Bishop's triennial Visitation, and dispersed. — 1767. A brief 
Examination of the Church Catechism, for the Use of those 
who are just arrived at Years of Discretion. — 1790. A short 
Paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer (4 pages octavo), first ad- 
dressed to his Parishioners of Brindle, in Lancashire, 1753 j 
and afterwards reprinted and distributed in his three parishes 
of Whittington, Heath, and Wingerworth, in Derbyshire, 1790. 



I'll BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF 

and a fund of knowledge, more than would have 
displayed itself in any greater work, where the 
subject requires but one bias, and one peculiar at- 
tention # . 

It is but justice to say, that few men were so 
liberal in the diffusion of the knowledge which he 
had acquired, or more ready to communicate it, 
either vivd voce, or by the loan of his MSS. as 
many of his living Friends can testify. 

In his publications he was also equally disin- 
terested as in his private communications ; for he 
never, as far as can be recollected, received any 
pecuniary advantage from any pieces that he 
printed, committing them all to the press, with 
the sole reserve of a few copies to distribute 
among his particular Friends -f~. 

* An accurate list of these detached publications may bs 
seen in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1796, pp. 979, 1081. 

f We shall here specify Mr. Pegge's several Memoirs printed 
(by direction of the Council of the Society of Antiquaries) in 
the Arehaeologia, as being the principal combined work to 
which he contributed. Herein we shall proceed as they suc- 
cessively occur in those volumes, rather than by the times at 
which the communications themselves were actually read be- 
fore the Society. 

Vol. I. No. XXXVII. p. 155. Some Observations on an 
antique Marble of the Earl of Pembroke.— No. XXXVI f J. 
p. 161. Dissertation on an Anglo-Saxon Jewel. — No. LV. 
p. 319. Of the Introduction, Progress, State, and Condition, 
of the Vine in Britain. — No. LVII. p. 335. A Copy of a Deed 
in Latin and Saxon of Odo, Bishop of Baieux, with some Ob- 
servations thereon. 

Vol.11. No. IX. p. 68. Observations on the Mistakes of 
Mr. Lisle and Mr. Hearne in respect of King Alfred's Present 



THE REV. DR. SAMUEL PEGGE. lilt 

In the following Catalogue we must be allowed 
to deviate from chronological order, for the sake 

to the Cathedrals. The late use of the Stylus, or metalline 
Pen. Mr. Wise's Conjecture concerning the famous Jewel of 
King Alfred further pursued 5 shewing it might possibly be 
part of the Stylus sent by that King, with Gregory's Pastorals, 
to the Monastery at Athelney. — No. XIII. p^S6. The Bull- 
running at Tutbury, in Staffordshire, considered. — No XVI. 
p. 100. Observations on Dr. Percy's (afterwards Bishop of Dro- 
more) Account of Minstrels among the Saxons. [See vol. III. 
Art. XXXIV. p. 310.]— No. XIX. p. 124. Observations on 
Stone Hammers. — No. XXV. p. 171. A Dissertation on the 
Crane, as a Dish served up at great Tables in England. — 
No. XXXVI. p. 276. A succinct and authentic Narrative of 
the Battle of Chesterfield [co. Derby], A. D. 1266, in the 
Reign of K. HenrvIII. 

Vol. III. No. I. p. 1. Of the Horn, as a Charter, or Instru- 
ment of Conveyance. Some Observations on Mr. Samuel 
Foxlow's Horn; as likewise on the Nature and Kinds of those 
Horns in general. — No. X. p. 39. On Shoeing of Horses 
among the Antients. — No. XI. p. 53. The Question consi- 
dered, whether England formerly produced any Wine from 
Grapes. [See vol. I. Art LV. p. 319- This Question was 
answered by the Hon. Daines Barrington in the 12th article 
of this volume, p. 6/.] — No. XIV. p. 101. Remarks on Be!a- 
tucader. — No. XVIII. p. 125. Memoir concerning the Sac- 
Friars, or Fr aires de Pamiteniid Jesu Christi, as settled in 
England. — No. XIX. p. 132. 'AXsjiipuc'vav 'Aywr. A Memoir 
on Cock-Fighting 3 wherein the Antiquity of it, as a Pastime, 
is examined and stated ; some Errors of the Moderns con- 
cerning it are corrected; and the Retention of it among 
Christians absolutely condemned and proscribed. — No. XX. 
p. 151. An Inscription in honour of Serapis, found at York, 
illustrated.— No. XXXIV. p. 310. A Letter to Dr. Percy (after- 
wards Bishop of Dromore), on the Minstrels among the antient 
Saxons, occasioned by some Observations on the Subject 
printed in the second Volume, p. 100. [In this short Letter, 
Dr. Pegge very candidly acknowledges that the Bishop had 
removed all his doubts in the most satisfactory manner, by a 
more copious discussion of the subject in a subsequent edition, 
which the Doctor had not seen when he wrote the Memoir in 
vol. II. p. 100]— No. XXXVI. p. 316. Remarks on the first 



liv BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS 01* 

of preserving Dr. Pegge's contributions to various 
periodical and contingent Publications, distinct 
from his independent Works ; to all which, 

Noble (coined IS Edw. III. A. D. 1344) wherein a new and 
more rational Interpretation is given of the Legend on the 
Reverse. — No. XLII. p. 3/1. Observations on two Jewels in 
the Possession of Sir Charles Mordaimt, Bart. 

Vol. IV. No. III. p. 29. An Enquiry into the Nature and 
Cause of King John's Death ; wherein it is shewn that it was 
not effected by Poison. — No. IV. p. 47. Illustrations of a Gold 
enamelled Ring, supposed to have been the Property of 
Alhstan, Bishop of Sherburne, with some Account of the 
State and Condition of the Saxon Jewelry in the more early 
Ages. — No. VII T. p. 110. Observations on Kits Cotty House 
in Kent. — No. XVII. p. 190. A Dissertation on a most va- 
luable Gold Coin of Edmund Crouchback, son of King 
rTenry III. — No. XXVI. p. 414. Remarks on the Bones of 
Fowls found in Christ-church Twynham, Hampshire. 

Vol. V. No. 1. p. 1. Observations on the History of St. 
George, the Patron Saint of England ; wherein Dr. Pettin- 
gall's allegorical Interpretation of the Equestrian Figure on 
the George, and the late Mr. Byrom's Conjecture, that St. 
George is mistaken for Pope Gregory, are briefly confuted ; 
and the Martyr of Cappadocia, as Patron of England, and of 
the Order of the Garter, is defended against both. [N. B. Dr. 
Pegge's Name to this Article is omitted in the Contents to the 
Volume; but see the Signature, p. 32.] — No. V. p. 95. On 
the Rudston Pyramidal Stone. — No. VII. p. 101. Remarks on 
Governor Pownall's Conjecture concerning the Croyland 
Boundary Stone. — No, XIII. p. 160. An Examination of a 
mistaken Opinion that Ireland, and [The Isle of] Thanet, are 
void of Serpents. — No. XXI. p. 2*24. Observations on the 
Stone Coffins found at Christ Church [in Hampshire].—-' 
No. XXVII. p. 272. An important Historical Passage of 
Gildas amended and explained.— No. XXXVI. p. 346. The 
Question discussed concerning the Appearances of the Ma- 
trices of so many Conventual Seals. — No. XXXIX. p. 369. 
Remarks on the antient Pig of Lead [then] lately discovered 
in Derbyshire. [The Date is 1/77.]— No. XLI. p. 390. The 
Penny with the name of Rodbertus IV. ascribed to Robert 
Duke of Normandy, and other Matters relative to the English 
Coinage, occasionally discussed. 



THE REV. DR. SAMUEL PEGGE. lv 

however, we shall give (as far as possible) their 
respective dates. 

Vol. VI. No. VIII. p. 79. Observations on the Plague in 
England. — No. XX. p. 150. The Commencement of the Day 
among the Saxons and Britons ascertained. 

Vol. VII. No. II. p. 19. Illustration of some Druidical Re- 
mains in the Peak of Derbyshire, drawn by Hayman Rooke, 
Esq. — No. IX. p. 86. Observations on the present Aldborough 
Church, in Holderness ; proving that it was not a Saxon 
Building, as Mr. Somerset [i. e. John-Charles Brooke, Esq. 
Somerset Herald] contends. — No. XIII. p. 131. A Disquisition 
on the Lows, or Barrows, in the Peak of Derbyshire, parti- 
cularly that capital British Monument called Arbelows. — 
No. XVIII. p. 170. Description of a Second Roman Pig of 
Lead found in Derbyshire, in the Possession of Mr. Adam 
VVolley, of Matlock, in that County, with Remarks. — • 
No. XXIV. p. 211. Observations on the Chariots of the An- 
cient Britons. — No. XXXVIII. p. 362. Observations on a 
Seal of Thomas, Suffragan Bishop of Philadelphia. 

Vol. VIII. No. I. p. 1. A Sketch of the History of the 
Asylum, or Sanctuary, from its Origin to the final Abolition 
of it in the Reign of King James I. — No. III. p. 58. Observa- 
tions on the Stanton Moor Urns, and Druidical Temples. — 
No. XX. p. 159. A circumstantial Detail of the Battle of 
Lincoln, A. D. 1217 (1 Henry III). 

Vol. IX. No. V. p. 45. Description of another [a third] 
Roman Pig of Lead found in Derbyshire. — No. IX. p. 84. 
Observations on some Brass Celts, and other Weapons, disco- 
vered in Ireland, 17S0. — No. XVII I. p. 1S9. Discoveries on 
opening a Tumulus in Derbyshire. 

Vol. X. No. II. p. 17- Derbeiescira Romana. — No. IV. p. 50. 
Some Observations of the Paintings in Brereton Church. — 
No. XIX. p. 156. On the hunting of the antient Inhabitants 
of our Island, Britons and Saxons — No. XXII I. p. 177. Ob- 
servations on an antient Font at Burnham-Deepdale, in Nor- 
folk. 

The following articles appear to have been contributed by 
Mr. Pegge to that useful and interesting reservoir of British 
Topographical History, the Bibliotheca Topographica Britan- 
nica; viz. No. XVII. A Memoir on the Storv of Guy Earl of 
Warwick [1783].— No. XXI. The History and Antiquities of 
Eccleshal- Manor and Castle, in the County of Stafford ; and 



VI BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF 



The greatest honour, which a literary man caii 
obtain^ is the eulogies of those who possessed 

of Lichfield House in London [1784]. [This Memoir is in- 
scribed to four successive Bishops of Lichfield : the Right 
R.ev. Dr. John Egerton (then Bishop of Durham) ; Hon. and 
Right Rev. Dr. Brownlow North, then (and still) Bishop of 
Winchester 3 Right Rev. Dr. Hurd, then Bishop of Worcester ; 
and the Hon. and Right Rev. Dr. Cornwallis, the present 
Bishop of Lichfield, who has done Dr. Pegge the honour to 
deposit a copy of it among the Archives belonging to that 
See. — No XXIV. The Roman Roads (Ikenild-Street and 
Bath- Way) discovered and investigated through the Country 
of the Coritani, or the County of Derby ; with the Addition of 
a Dissertation on the Coritani. [1784.] — No. XXV. An His- 
torical Account of that venerable Monument of Antiquity, the 
Textus Roffensis ; including Memoirs of Mr. William Elstob, 
and his Sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Elstob. [17S4.] — No. XXVIII. 
Some Account of that Species of Prelates formerly existing iri 
England, usually called " Bishops in Partibus Infidel'mm." 
[1784.] [The article before us is combined with some others 
to consolidate what has been written on the subject. It begins 
with a Letter from the Rev. Thomas Brett, LL. D. on Suf- 
fragan Bishops in England, extracted from Drake's Antiquities 
of York (p. 539), which is followed by a Memoir on the same 
Topick from the Rev. Mr. Lewis, of Margate. To these is 
subjoined Dr. Pegge's Account of " Bishops in Partibus Infi- 
dd'wm"- [N. B. This Number closes with " A List of the 
Suffragan Bishops in England, drawn up by the late Rev. 
Henry Wharton, M.A. and extracted from his MSS. in the 
Lambeth Library."] — No. XXXII. Sketch of the History of Bol- 
sover and Peak Casties, in the County of Derby (in a Letter 
to his Grace the Duke of Portland), illustrated with various 
Drawings by Hayman Ilooke, Esq. [1785]. — No. XLI. A Syl- 
loge of the authentic remaining Inscriptions relative to the 
Erection of our English Churches, embellished with Copper- 
plates. Inscribed to Puchard Gough, esq. [1787.] 

Independent Publications on Numismatical, Antiquarian, " 
and Biographical Subjects: 1756. No. I. (C A Series of Dis- 
sertations on some elegant and very valuable Anglo-Saxon 
Remains." [42 pages, 4to. with a Plate.] I. A Gold Coin in 
the Pembrochian Cabinet, in a Letter to Martin Folkes, Esq. 
late President of the Royal Society, and Fellow of the Society 



THE REV. DR. SAMUEL PEGGE. Mi 

equal or more learning than himself. "Laudatus a 
loudatis viris" may peculiarly and deservedly be said 
of Dr.Pegge, as might be exemplified from the fre- 

of Antiquaries. [Dated Godmersham, 1751.] 2. A Silver 
Coin in the Possession of Mr. John White. [Dated Whitting- 
ton, 1755.] 3. A Gold Coin in the Possession of Mr. Simp- 
son, of Lincoln, in a Letter to Mr. Vertue. [Dated Godmer- 
sham, 1/51.] 4. A Jewel in the Bodleian Library. [Noplace 
or date.] 5. Second Thoughts on Lord Pembroke's Coin, in 
a Letter to Mr. Ames, Secretary to the Society of Antiquaries. 
[Dated Whittington, 1755.] [These Dissertations are pre- 
faced by a Question, candidly debated with the Rev. George 
North, Whether the Saxons coined any Gold ?] — No. II. 1761. 
Ci Memoirs of Roger de Weseham, Dean of Lincoln, afterwards 
Bishop of Lichfield ; and the principal Favourite of Robert 
Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln." [60 pages, 4to.] [This 
work ( as we are told in the title-page) was intended as a pre- 
lude to the Life of that most excellent Bishop, Robert Grosse- 
teste ; which accordingly appeared (as will be mentioned) in 
the year 1?95. These Memoirs were compiled soon after Dr. 
Pegge was collated, by Bishop [Frederick] Cornwallis, to the 
prebend of Bobenliull, in the church of Lichfield, 1757> 
(founded by Bishop Weseham) and gratefully inscribed to his 
patron the Bishop of Lichfield, and to his friend Dr. John 
Green, then Dean of Lincoln, as Roger de Weseham had sue-' 
cessively filled both those dignities.] — No. III. 1766. "An 
Essay on the Coins of Cunobelin ; m an Epistle to the Right 
Rev. Bishop of Carlisle [Charles Lyttelton], President of the 
Society of Antiquaries." [105 pages, 4to ] [This collection 
of coins is classed in two plates, and illustrated by a Com- 
mentary, together with observations on the word tascia. 
N. B. The impression consisted of no more than 200 copies.] 
— No. IV. 1772. "An Assemblage of Coins fabricated by 
Authority of the Archbishops of Canterbury. To which are 
subjoined, Two Dissertations." [1*25 pages, 4to.] 1. On a 
fine Coin of Alfred the Great, with his Head. 2. On an Unic, 
in the Possession of the late Mr. Thoresby, supposed to be a 
Coin of St. Edwin ; but shewn to be a Penny of Edward the 
Confessor. [An Essay is annexed on the origin of metro- 
political and other subordinate mints ; with an Account of 
their Progress and final Determination : together with other 
incidental Matters, tending to throw light on a branch of the 



Iviii MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. PEGGE. 

quent mention made of him by the most respect- 
able contemporary writers in the Archaeological 
line; but modesty forbids our enumerating them. 

Science of Medals, not perfectly considered by English Me- 
dalists.] — No. V. 1772. " Fitz-Stephen's Description of the 
City of London, newly translated from the Latin Original, 
with a necessary Commentary, and a Dissertation on the Au- 
thor, ascertaining the exact Year of the Production ; to which 
are added, a correct Edition of the Original, with the various 
Readings, and many Annotations." [81 pages, 4to.] [This 
publication (well known now to have been one of the works 
of Dr. Pegge) was, as we believe, brought forward at the in- 
stance of the Hon. Daines Barrington, to whom it is inscribed. 
The number of copies printed was 250.] — No. VI. 1780. 
"The Forme of Cury. A Roll of antient English Cookery, 
compiled about the Year 1390, Temp. Ric. II. with a co- 
pious Index and Glossary." [Svo.] [The curious Roll, of 
which this is a copy, was the property of the late Gustavus 
Brander, esq. It is in the hand-writing of the time, a fac- 
simile of which is given facing p. xxxi. of the Preface. 
The work before us was a private impression ; but as, since 
Mr. Brander's decease, it has fallen, by sale, into a great 
many hands, we refer to the Preface for a farther account of 
it. Soon after Dr. Pegges elucidation of the Roll was finished, 
Mr. Brander presented the autograph to the British Museum.] 
— No. VII. 1789. "Annates Eliae de Trickenham, Monachi 
Ordinis Benedictini. Ex Bibliotheca Lamethana." To which 
is added, " Compendium Compertorum. Ex Bibliotheca 
Ducis Devonian." [4to.l [Both parts of this publication con- 
tain copious annotations by the Editor. The former was com- 
municated by Mr. John Nichols, Printer, to whom it is in- 
scribed. The latter was published by permission of his Grace 
the Duke of Devonshire, to whom it is dedicated. The re- 
spective Prefaces to these pieces will best explain the nature of 
them.]— No. VIII. 1793. " The Life of Robert Grosseteste, the 
celebrated Bishop of Lincoln." [4to.] [This Work we have 
justly called his chef-d'oeuvre ; for, in addition to the life of an 
individual, it comprises much important history of interesting 
times, together with abundant collateral matter.] — The two 
following works have appeared since the Writer's death : 
No. IX. 1801. "An Historical Account of Beauchief Abbey, 
in the County of Derby, from its first Foundation to its final 



— 

s 

'A 






is 




( iw ) 



APPENDIX TO THE PARENTALIA. 



l* Whittington Church. 

The annexed View was taken in 1789, by the inge- 
nious Mr. Jacob Schnebbelie ; and the following con- 
cise account of it was communicated in 1793, by the 
then worthy and venerable Rector. 

" Whittington, of whose Church the annexed 
Plate contains a Drawing by the late Mr. Schnebbelie, 
is a small parish of about 14 or 15 hundred acres, dis- 
tant from the church and old market-place of Chester- 
field about two miles and a half. It lies in the road 
from Chesterfield to Sheffield and Rotherham, whose 
roads divide there at the well-known inn The Cock 
and Magpye, commonly called The Revolution House. 

The situation is exceedingly pleasant, in a pure and 
excellent air. Ic abounds with all kinds of conve- 
niences for the use of the inhabitants, as coal, stone, 
timber, &c. ; besides its proximity to a good market, to 
take its products. 

Dissolution. Wherein the three following material Points, in 
opposition to vulgar Prejudices, are clearly established: 
1st, That this Abbey did not take its name from the Head of 
Archbishop Becket, though it was dedicated to him. 2d, That 
the Founder of it had no hand in the Murder of that Prelate ; 
and, consequently, that the House was not erected in Ex- 
piation of that Crime. 3d, The Dependance of this House 
on that of Welbeck, in the County of Nottingham j a Matter 
hitherto unknown." [4to.] — No. X. 1809. " Anonymiana; or, 
Ten Centuries of Observations on various Authors and Sub- 
jects. Compiled by a late very learned and reverend Divine ; 
and faithfully published from the original MS. with the Ad- 
dition of a copious Index." [8vo.] 

e 2 



IX APPENDIX TO THE PARENTAUA. 

The Church is now a little Rectory, in the gift of 
the Dean of Liucoln. At first it was a Chapel of Ease 
to Chesterfield, a very large manor and parish ; of 
which I will give the following short but convincing 
proof The Dean of Lincoln, as I said, is Patron of 
this Rectory, and yet William Rufus gave no other 
church in this part of Derbyshire to the church of St. 
Mary at Lincoln but the church of Chesterfield ; and, 
moreover, Whittington is at this day a parcel of the 
great and extensive manor of Chesterfield ; whence 
it follows, that Whittington must have been once a 
part both of the rectory and manor of Chesterfield. 
But whence comes it, you will say, that it became a 
rectory, for such it has been many years ? I answer, 
I neither know how nor when ; but it is certain that 
chapels of ease have been frequently converted into 
rectories, and I suppose by mutual agreement of the 
curate of the chapel, the rector of the mother church, 
and the diocesan. Instances of the like emancipation 
of chapels, and transforming them into independent 
rectories, there are several in the county of Derby, as 
Matlock, Ronteshall, Bradley, &c. ; and others may be 
found in Mr. Nichols's " History of Hinckley," and in 
his " Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica," No. VI. 

Fig. 1 is an inscription on the Ting-tang, or Saints 
Bell, of Whittington Church, drawn by Mr. Schneb- 
belie, 27 July, 1789, from an impression taken in clay. 
This bell, which is seen in the annexed view, hangs 
within a stone frame, or tabernacle, at the top of the 
church, on the outside between the Nave and the 
Chancel. It has a remarkable fine shrill tone, and is 
heard, it is said, three or four miles off, if the wind be 
right. It is very antient, as appears both from the 
form of the letters, and the name (of the donor, I sup- 
pose), which is that in use before surnames were com- 
mon. Perhaps it may be as old as the fabrick of the 
church itself, though this is very a/itient. 



WHITTINGTON CHURCH. lxi 

Fig. 2 is a stone head, near the roof on the North 
side of the church. 

In the East window of the church is a small Female 
Saint. 

In this window, A. a fess Vaire G. and O. between 
three water-bougets Sable. Dethick. 

Cheque A. and G. on a bend S. a martlet. Beck~ 
ering. 

At the bottom of this window an inscription, 

Roger Criche was rector, and died 1413, and pro- 
bably made the window.. He is buried within the rails 
of the communion-table, and his slab is engraved in 
the second volume of Mr. Gough's " Sepulchral Mo- 
numents of Great Britain," Plate XIX. p. 37. No- 
thing remains of the inscription but 3msn\ 

In the upper part of the South window of the Chan- 
cel, is a picture in glass of our Saviour with the five 
wounds ; an angel at his left hand sounding a trum- 
pet*. — On a pane of the upper tier of the West win- 
dow is the portrait of St. John ; his right hand holding 
a book with the Holy Lamb upon it : and the fore- 
finger of his left hand pointing to the Cross held by 
the Lamb, as uttering his well-known confession : 
"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the 
sin of the world *." 

In the South window of the Chancel is, Barry wavy 
of 6 A. and G. a chief A. Ermine and Gules. Barley, 

Ermine, on a chief indented G. or lozenge. 

In the Easternmost South window of the nave is A. 
on a chevron Sable, three quatrefoils Argent. Eyre. 

This window has been renewed ; before which there 
were other coats and some effigies in it. 

Jan. 1, 1793. Samuel Pegge, Rector." 

* Both these are engraved in the "Antiquaries Museum/' from, 
drawings made by Mr. Schnebbelie. Edit, 



Jxii APPENDIX TO THE PARENTALIA. 

2. Whittington Rectory. 

This View was taken also, in 1789, by Mr. Schneb- 
belie ; and the account of it drawn up in 1793 by Dr. 
Pegge, then resident in it, at the advanced age of 88. 

" The Parsonage-house at Whittington is a con- 
venient substantial stone building, and very sufficient 
for this small benefice. It was, as I take it, erected 
by the Rev. Thomas Callice, one of my predecessors ; 
and, when I had been inducted, I enlarged it, by pull- 
ing down the West end, making a cellar, a kitchen, a 
brew-house, and a pantry, with chambers over them. 
There is a glebe of about 30 acres belonging to it, 
with a garden large enough for a family, and a small 
orchard. The garden is remarkably pleasant in re- 
spect to its fine views to the North, East, and South, 
with the Church to the West. There is a fair pro- 
spect of Chesterfield Church, distant ab^ut two miles 
and a half ; and of Bolsover Castle to the West ; and, 
on the whole, this Rectorial house may be esteemed a 
very delightful habitation. S. Pegge." 

In this Parsonage the Editor of the present Volume, 
accompanied by his late excellent Friend Mr. Gough, 
spent many happy hours with the worthy Rector for 
several successive years, and derived equal information 
and pleasure from his instructive conversation. 

3. The Revolution House. 

To complete the little series of Views at Whitting- 
ton more immediately connected with Dr. Pegge, a 
third plate is here given, from another Drawing by 
Mr. Schnebbelie, of the small public-chouse at Whit- 
tington, which has been handed down to posterity for 
above a century under the honourable appellation of 
" The Revolution House. "■ It obtained that name 
from the accidental meeting of two noble personages, 
Thomas Osborne Earl of Danby, and William Caven- 
dish Earl of Devonshire, with a third person, Mr. John 



THE REVOLUTION HOUSE. IxiH 

D'Arcy *, privately one morning, 1688, upon Whit- 
tington Moor, as a middle place between Chatsworth, 
Kniveton, and Aston, their respective residences, to 
consult about the Revolution, then in agitation f ; but a 
shower of rain happening to fall, tbey removed to the 
village for shelter, and finished their conversation at a 
public-house there, the sign of The Cock and Pynot%. 

The part assigned to the Earl of Danby was, to sur- 
prize York ; in which he succeeded : after which, the 
Earl of Devonshire was to take measures at Notting- 
ham, where the Declaration for a free Parliament, 
which he, at the head of a number of Gentlemen of 
Derbyshire, had signed Nov. 28, 1688 §, was adopted 
by the Nohility, Gentry, and Commonalty of the Nor- 
thern Counties, assembled there for the defence of the 
Laws, Religion, and Properties ||. 

The success of these measures is well known ; and 
to the concurrence of these Patriots with the proceed- 
ings in favour of the Prince of Orange in the West, is 
this Nation indebted for the establishment of he»: 
rights and liberties at the glorious Revolution. 

The cottage here represented stands at the point 
where the road from Chesterfield divides into two 
branches, to Sheffield and Rotherham. The room 
where the Noblemen sat is 15 feet by 12 feet 10, and 
is to this day called The Plotting Parlour. The old 
armed chair, still remaining in it, is shewn by the 
landlord with particular satisfaction, as that in w T hich 
it is said the Earl of Devonshire sat ; and he tells with 
equal pleasure, how it was visited by his descendants, 
and the descendants of his associates, in the year 
1788. Some new rooms, for the better accommo- 
dation of customers, were added about 20 years ago. 

* It appears, from traditional accounts, that Lord Delamere, an 
ancestor of the present Earl of Stamford and Warrington, was also 
at this meeting. H. Rooke. 

f Kennett. J A Provincial name for a Magpye. 

§ Rapin, XV. 199. (| Deering's Nottingham, p. 258. 



Ixiv APPENDIX TO THE PARENTALIA. 

The Duke of Leeds' own account of his meeting 
the Earl of Devonshire and Mr. John 
D'Arcy* at Whittington, in the County of 
Derby, A. D. 1688. 

The Earl of Derby, afterwards Duke of Leeds, was 
impeached, A. D. 1678, of High Treason by the House 
of Commons, on a charge of being in the French in- 
terest, and, in particular, of being Popishly affected : 
many, both Peers and Commoners, were misled, and 
had conceived an erroneous opinion concerning him 
and his political conduct. This he has stated himself, 
in the Introduction to his Letters, printed A. 1710, 
where he says, " That the malice of my accusation 
did so manifest!)' appear in that article wherein I was 
charged to be Popishly affected, that I dare swear 
there was not one of my accusers that did then believe 
that article against me." 

His Grace then proceeds, for the further clearing of 
himself, in these memorable words, relative to the 
meeting at Whittington, the subject of this memoir. 

" The Duke of Devonshire also, when we were 
partners in the secret trust about the Revolution, and 
who did meet me and Mr. John D'Arcy, for that pur- 
pose, at a town called Whittington, in Derb) shire, 
did, in the presence of the said Mr. D'Arcj', make a 
voluntary acknowledgment of the great mistakes he 
had been led into about me ; and said, that both he, 
and most others, were entirely convinced of their 
error. And he came to Sir Henry Goodrick's house in 
Yorkshire purposely to meet me there again, in order 
to concert the times and methods by which he should 
act at Nottingham (which was to be his post), and one 
at York (which was to be mine) ; and we agreed, that 
I should first attempt to surprize York, because there 
was a small garrison with a Governor there ; whereas 

* Son and heir of Ccnyers Earl of Holderness. 



THE REVOLUTION JUBILEE. lxv 

Nottingham was but an open town, and might give an 
alarm to York, if he should appear in arms before I had 
made my attempt upon York ; which was done ac- 
cording!) * ; but is mistaken in divers relations of it. 
And I am confident that Duke (had he been now 
alive) would have thanked nobody for putting his pro- 
secution of me amongst the glorious actions of his 
life," 



Celebration of the Revolution Jubilee, at Whit- 
tington and Chesterfield, on the 4th and 5th of 
November, 1788. 

On Tuesday the 4th instant, the Committee ap- 
pointed to conduct the Jubilee had a previous meeting, 
and dined together at the Revolution House in Whit- 
tington. His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, Lord 
Stamford, Lord George and Lord John Cavendish, 
with several neighbouring Gentlemen, were present. 
After dinner a subscription was opened for the erecting 
of a Monumental Column, in Commemoration of the 
Glorious Revolution, on that spot where the Earls of 
Devonshire and Danby, Lord Delamere, and Mr. John 
D'Arcy, met to concert measures which were eminently 
instrumental in rescuing the Liberties of their Country 
from perdition. As this Monument is intended to be 
not less a mark of public Gratitude, than the memorial 
of an important event; it was requested, that the pre- 
sent Representatives of the above-mentioned families 
would excuse their not being permitted to join in the 
cxpence. 

* For the Earl of Devonshire's proceedings at Derby and Whit- 
tington see Mr. Deering's History of Nottingham, p. 260. Mr. 
Drake, p. 177 of his Eboracum, just mentions the Earl of Danby *s 
appearance at York. 



lxvi APPENDIX TO THE PARENTALIA. 

On the 5th, at eleven in the morning, the comme- 
moration commenced with divine service at Whitting- 
ton Church. The Rev. Mr. Pegge, the Rector of the 
Parish, delivered an excellent Sermon from the words 
" This is the day, &c." Though of a great age, having 
that very morning entered his 85th year, he spoke 
with a spirit which seemed to be derived from the oc- 
casion, his sentiments were pertinent, well arranged, 
and his expression animated. 

The descendants of the illustrious houses of Ca- 
vendish, Osborne, Boothe, and Darcy (for the vene- 
rable Duke of Leeds, whose age would not allow him 
to attend, had sent his two grandsons, in whom the 
blood of Osborne and D'Arcy is united) ; a numerous 
and powerful gentry ; a wealthy and respectable yeo- 
manry; a hardy, yet decent and attentive peasantry; 
whose intelligent countenances shewed that they un- 
derstood, and would be firm to preserve that blessing, 
for which they were assembled to return thanks to Al- 
mighty God, presented a truly solemn spectacle, and 
to the eye of a philosopher the most interesting that 
can be imagined. 

After service the company went in succession to 
view the old house, and the room called by the Anti- 
revolutionists "The Plotting-Parlour," with the old 
armed-chair in which the Earl of Devonshire is said 
to have sitten, and every one was then pleased to par- 
take of a very elegant cold collation, which was pre- 
pared in the new rooms annexed to the cottage, Some 
time being spent in this, the procession began : 

Constables with long staves, two and two. 

The Eight Clubs, four and four ; viz. 

1. Mr. Deakin's : Flag, blue, with orange fringe, on it 
the figure of Liberty, the motto, " The Protestant 
Religion, and the Liberties of England, we will 

■ maintain." 

2. Mr. Bluett's : Flag, blue, fringed with orange, 
motto, " Libertas ; quae sera, tamen respexit in- 



THE REVOLUTION JUBILEE. lxvil 

ertem." Underneath the figure of Liberty crown- 
ing Britannia with a wreath of laurels, who is repre- 
sented sitting on a Lion, at her feet the Cornucopia? 
of Plenty; at the top next the pole, a Castle, em- 
blematical of the house where the club is kept; on. 
the lower side of the flag Liberty holding a Cap and 
resting on the Cavendish arms. 

3. Mr. OstlifPs : Flag, broad blue and orange stripe, 
with orange fringe ; in the middle the Cavendish 
arms ; motto as No. ] . 

4. Mrs. Barber's : Flag, garter blue and orange quar- 
ter'd, with white fringe, mottoes, " Liberty se- 
cured." " The Glorious Revolution 1688." 

3. Mr. Valentine Wilkinson's : Flag, blue with orange 
fring^ in the middle the figure of Liberty ; motto 
as Nb. 1. 

6. Mr. Stubbs : Flag, blue with orange fringe, motto, 
" Liberty, Property, Trade, Manufactures ;" at the 
top a head of King William crowned with laurel, in 
the middle in a large oval, " Revolution 1688." 
On one side the Cap of Liberty, on the other the 
figure of Britannia ; on the opposite side the flag of 
the Devonshire arms. 

Mrs. Ollerenshaw's : Flag, blue with orange fringe ; 
motto as No. 1. on both sides. 

Mr. Marsingale's : Flag, blue with orange fringe; at 
the top the motto, " In Memory of the Glorious 
Assertors of British Freedom 1688," beneath, the 
figure of Liberty leaning on a shield, on which is in- 
scribed, " Revolted from Tyranny at Whittington 
1688;" and having in her hand a scroll with the 
words "Bill of Rights" underneath a head of Kino: 
William the Third ; on the other side the flag, the 
motto, " The Glorious Revoher from Tyranny 
1688" underneath the Devonshire arms; at the 
bottom the following inscription, " Willielmus 
Dux Devon. Bonorum Principum Fidelis Sub- 
ditus ; Inimicus et Invisus Tyrannis." 



Ixviii APPENDIX TO THE PARENTALIA. 



The Members of the Clubs were estimated 200Q 
persons, each having a white wand in his hand 
with blue and orange tops and favours, with 
the Revolution stamped upon them, 
The Derbyshire militia's band of music. 
The Corporation of Chesterfield in their formalities, 
who joined the procession on entering the town. 
The Duke of Devonshire in his coach and six. 
Attendants on horseback with four led horses. 
The Earl of Stamford in his post chaise and four. 
Attendants on horseback. 
The Earl of Danby and Lord Francis Osborne in their 
post-chaise and four. 
Attendants on horseback. 
Lord George Cavendish in his post-chaise arid four. 
Attendants on horseback. 
Lord John Cavendish in his post-chaise and four. 
Attendants on horseback. 
Sir Francis Molyneux and Sir Henry Hunloke, Barts. 
in Sir Henry's coach and six. 
Attendants on horseback. 
And upwards of forty other carriages of the neigh- 
bouring gentry, with their attendants. 
Gentlemen on horseback, three and three. 
Servants on horseback, ditto. 
The procession in the town of Chesterfield went 
along Holyweli-Street, Saltergate, Glumangate, then 
to the left along the upper side of the Market-place 
to Mr. Wilkinson's house, down the street past the 
Mayor's house, along the lower side of the Market- 
place to the end of the West Bans, from thence past 
Dr. Milnes's house to the Castle, where the Derby- 
shire band of music formed in the centre and played 
" Rule Britannia;' " God save the King, Kc" the 
Clubs and Corporation still proceeding in the same 
order to the Mayor's and then dispersed. 

The whole was conducted with order and regularity, 
for notwithstanding there were fifty carriages, 400 



THE REVOLUTION JUBILEE. IxiX 

gentlemen on horseback, and an astonishing throng of 
spectators, not an accident happened. All was joy 
and gladness, without a single burst of unruly tumult 
and uproar. The approving eye of Heaven shed its 
auspicious beams, and blessed this happy day with 
more than common splendour. 

The company was so numerous as scarcely to be 
accommodated at the three principal inns. It would 
be a piece of injustice not to mention the dinner at the 
Castle, which was served in a style of unusual ele- 
gance. 

The following toasts were afterwards given : 

1. The King. 

2. The glorious and immortal Memory of King 
William the Hid. 

3. The Memory of the Glorious Revolution. 

4. The Memory of those Friends to their Country, 
who, at the risk of their lives and fortunes, were in- 
strumental in effecting the Glorious Revolution in 
1688. 

5. The Law of the Land. 

6. The Prince of Wales. 

7. The Queen, and the rest of the Royal Family. 

8. Prosperity to the British Empire. 

9. The Duke of Leeds, and prosperity to the House 
of Osborne. 

10. The Duke of Devonshire, and prosperity to the 
House of Cavendish. 

11. The Earl of Stamford, and prosperity to the 
united House of Boothe and Grey. 

12. The Earl of Danby, and prosperity to the 
united House of Osborne and Darcy. 

13. All the Friends of the Revolution met this year 
to commemorate that glorious Event. 

14. The Duke of Portland. 

15. Prosperity to the County of Derby. 

16. The Members for the County. 

i 17. The Members for the Borough of. Derby. 



IXX APPENDIX TO THE PARENTALIA. 

18. The Duchess of Devonshire, &c. 

In the evening a brilliant exhibition of fireworks 
was played off, under the direction of Signor Pietro ; 
during which the populace were regaled with a proper 
distribution of liquor. The day concluded with a ball, 
at which were present near 300 gentlemen and ladies ; 
amongst whom were many persons of distinction. The 
Duchess of Devonshire, surrounded by the bloom of 
the Derbyshire hills, is a picture not to be pourtrayed. 
Near 250 ball- tickets were received at the door. 

The warm expression of gratitude and affection 
sparkling in every eye, must have excited in the 
breasts of those noble personages, whose ancestors 
were the source of this felicity, a sensation which Mo- 
narchs in all their glory might envy. The utmost har- 
mony and felicity prevailed throughout the whole 
meeting. An hogshead of ale was given to the popu- 
lace at Whittington, and three hogsheads at Chester- 
field ; where the Duke of Devonshire gave also three 
guineas to each of the eight clubs. 

It was not the least pleasing circumstance attending 
this meeting, that all party distinctions were forgotten. 
Persons of all ranks and denominations wore orange 
and blue, in memory of our glorious Deliverer. And 
the most respectable Roman Catholic families, sa- 
tisfied with the mild toleration of government in the 
exercise of their Religion, vied in their endeavours to 
shew how just a sense they had of the value of Civil 
Liberty. 

Letter from the Rev. P. Cunningham to Mr. Pegge. 

t-> Eyam, near TideswaL 

Rev. and dear Sie, * Mv. 2, n&8. 

You will please to accept of the inclosed Stanzas, 
and the Ode for the Jubilee, as a little testimony of 
the Author's respectful remembrance of regard ; and 
of his congratulations, that it has pleased Divine Pro- 
vidence to prolong your days, to take a distinguished 



THE REVOLUTION JUBILEE. Ixxi 

part in the happy commemoration of the approaching 
Fifth of November. 

Having accidentally heard yesterday the Text you 
proposed for your Discourse on Wednesday, I thought 
the adoption of it, as an additional truth to the one I. 
had chosen, would be regarded as an additional token 
of implied respect. In that light I flatter myself you 
will consider it. 

I shall be happy if these poetic effusions should be 
considered by you as a proof of the sincere respect 
and esteem with which I subscribe myself, 
Dear Sir, your faithful humble servant, 

P. Cunningham. 



Stanzas, by the Rev. P. Cunningham, occasioned 
by the Revolution Jubilee, at Whittington and 
Chesterfield, Nov. 5, 1788. Inscribed to the 
Rev. Samuel Pegge, Rector of Whittington. 

" This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice 
and be glad in it." Psalms. ' 

" Esto perpetua 1" F. P. Sarpi da Venez. 

Round the starr'd Zodiack, now the golden Sun 

Eventful Time a Century hath led ; 
Siiice Freedom, with her choicest wreath, begun 

Smiling, to grace her long-loved Nation's head. 

Welcome again, the fair auspicious Morn ! 

To Freedom, first and fairest of the year ; 
When from her ashes, like a Phoenix born, 

Reviving Britain rose in Glory's sphere. 

When, starting from their mournful death-like trance, 

Her venerable Laws their fasces rais'd. 
Her stern-eyed Champions grasp'd th' avenging lance, 

And pure Religion's trembling altars blaz'd. 



Ixxii APPENDIX TO THE PARENTALIA, 

For then, from Belgia, through the billowy storm, 

And, heaven-directed in an happy hour, 
Britain's good Genius, bearing William's form, 

Broke the dire Sceptre of Despotic Power. 

Ev'n now, to Fancy's retrospective eyes, 
Fix'd on the triumphs of his Patriot-Reign j 

Majestic seems the Hero's shade to rise, 

With Commerce, Wealth, and Empire, in his train, 

Undimm'd his * Eagle-eye, serene his air, 

Of Soul heroic, as in Fields of Death \ 
See ! Britain's Weal employs his latest care, 

Her Liberty and Laws his latest breath. 

Ci Visions of Glory ! crouding on his sight," 

With your still-growing lustre gild the day, 
When Britons, worthy of their Sires, unite 

Their Orisons at Freedom's Shrine to pay. 

To eternize the delegated hand, 

That seal'd their great forefathers' fields their own ; 
Rais'd ev'ry art that decks a smiling land, 

And Laws that guard the Cottage as the Throne. 

That to the free, unconquerable mind 

Secur'd the sacred Rights of Conscience, given 

To Man, when tender Mercy first design'd 
To raise the Citizen of Earth to Heaven. 

And hark ! the solemn Paeans grateful rise 

From rural Whittington's o'erflowing fane ; 
And, with the heart's pure incense to the skies., 

Its venerable Shepherd's f haHow'd strain. 

See! pointing to the memorable scene, 

He bids that Heath % to latest times be known, 

Whence her three Champions §, Freedom, heaven-born Queen, 
Led with fresh glories to the British Throne. 



* Sir John Dalrymple's " Continuation of Memoirs of Great 
Britain." 

f Samuel Pegge. 

X Whittington Moor. 

§ Earl of Devon, Earl of Danby, and Mr. John D'Arcy. 



THE REVOLUTION JUBILEE. lxxiii 

Oh, Friend ! upon whose natal morn * 'tis given, 
When seventeen Lustres mark thy letter'd days, 

To lead the Hymn of Gratitude to Heav'n, 

And blend the Christian's with the Briton's praise. 

Like hoary Sarpis f , patriot Sage, thy pray'r 
With Life shall close in his emphatic Strain j 

" As on this day, may Freedom, ever fair, 
In Britain flourish, and for ever reign!" 

Eyam, Derbyshire. P. C. 



Ode for the Revolution Jubilee., 1788, 

When lawless Power his iron hand, 
When blinded Zeal her flaming brand 

O'er Albion's Island wav'd ; 
Indignant Freedom veil'd the sight j 
Eclips'd her Son of Glory's light ; 

Her fav'rite Realm enslav'd. 

Distrest she wander'd : — when afar 
She saw her Nassau's friendly star 

Stream through the stormy air : 
She call'd around a Patriot Band ; 
She bade them save a sinking land 5 

And deathless glory share. 

Her cause their dauntless hearts inspir'd, 
With ancient Roman virtue fir'd ; 

They piough'd the surging main ; 
With fav'ring gales from Belgia's shore 
Her heaven-directed Hero bore, 

And Freedom crown'd his Reign. 

With equal warmth her spirit glows, 
Though hoary Time's centennial snows 

New silver o'er her fame. 
For hark, what songs of triumph tell, 
Still grateful Britons love to dwell 

On William's glorious name. 

* Birth-day of the Rev. Samuel Peggc, 1704. 
f Father Paul. 



[ Ixxiv ] 



EXTRACTS FROM 

LETTERS TO MR. GOUGH. 

Dear Sir, Whittington, Oct. 11, 1788. 

We are to have most grand doings at this place, 5th 
of November next, at the Revolution Bouse, which I 
believe you saw when you was here. The Resolutions 
of the Committee were ordered to be inserted in the 
London prints* ; so I presume you may have seen 
them, and that I am desired to preach the Sermon. 

I remain your much obliged, &c. S. Pegge. 

* " The Committee appointed by the Lords and Gentlemen at the 
last Chesterfield Races, to conduct and manage the Celebration of the 
intended Jubilee, on the Hundredth Anniversary of the glorious Re- 
volution, at the Revolution House in Whittington, in the County of 
Derby, where measures were first concerted for the promotion of 
that grand constitutional event, in these midland parts, have this day 
met, and upon consideration, come to the following resolutions : 

That General Gladwin do take the chair at this meeting. That 
thfe Rev. Samuel Pegge be requested to preach a Sermon on the oc- 
casion, at Whittington Church, on the 5th day of November next. 
That the Gentlemen who intend to honour the meeting with their 
company, do assemble at Whittington Church, exactly at eleven 
o'clock in the forenoon of that day to attend divine service. That 
immediately after service, they meet at the Revolution House, where 
a cold collation will be provided. That they go in procession from 
thence to Chesterfield, where ordinaries will be provided at the 
Angel, Castle, and Falcon inns. That the meeting be open to all 
friends of the Revolution. That letters be written to the Dukes of 
Devonshire and Leeds, and the Earl of Stamford, to request the 
honour of their attendance at that meeting. That there be a ball 
for the Ladies in the evening, at the Assembly Room in Chester- 
field. That a subscription of one guinea each be entered into for 
defraying the extraordinary expenses on the occasion, and that the 
same be paid into the hands of Messrs. Wilkinson's, in Chesterfield. 
That the Committee do meet again on Wednesday the 8th of Oc- 
tober next, at the Angel Inn, in Chesterfield, at one o'clock. That 
these resolutions be published in the Derby and Nottingham news- 
papers, and in the St. James's, Whitehall, and Lloyd's Evening 
Posts, and the London and English Chronicles. 

Chesterfield, Sept. 27, 1788. Henry Gladwin, Chairman." 



LETTERS CF DR. S. PEGGE. IxXV 

Whittington^ Nov. 29, 1788. 
My dear Mr. Gough, 

Mr. Rooke slept at the Vicarage on the 4th, in order 
to he ready for our grand celebrity the next day ; and 
to distribute then to his friends his drawing, which he 
had caused to be engraved by Basire, of the Revolution 
House at Whittington, which he did, with a paper of 
mine, respecting the meeting there of the Earl of De- 
vonshire, the Earl of Derby, &c. in 1688, annexed. 

The 5th of November is now gone and over, and they 
said I acquitted myself very well. Indeed, I was in 
good spirits, and, as my Son-in-law read the prayers, 
I went fresh into the pulpit. The Duke of Devon 
was too late; but we had the Earl of Stamford at 
church, with Lord George and Lord John Cavendish, 
Lord Danby (Son of the Marquis of Carmarthen), and 
Lord Francis Osborne, with their Preceptor Dr. Jack- 
son, Prebendary of Westminster, &c. The cavalcade 
from Whittington to Chesterfield, where we were to 
dine at four o'clock, was amazingly grand, no less 
than 50 coaches and chaises with horses dressed with 
orange ribbons ; large and fine banners, with sundry 
bands of music. There were about 1000 on foot, with 
orange cockades, and about 300 on horseback, many 
of whom, besides cockades, were in blue, with orange 
capes. At half past ^ix the fireworks, by an Italian 
artist, began, and very admirable they were; he had 
twenty pounds given him by the Managers. The ball 
room, at nine, was so crowded that, though it is large, 
there could be but little dancing. The ball was given 
to the Ladies, with an entertainment of cakes, sweet- 
meats, negus, &c. It was a fine day ; and not the 
least accident happened, though it is supposed not 
less than 30,000 people were assembled. Hogsheads 
of liquor were given by the Managers at Whittington 
and Chesterfield, and the Duke of Devon gave twenty- 
four guineas to the footmen mentioned above. I saw 
nobody however in liquor; and when Mr. Rooke and I 

f2 



Ixxvi LETTERS OF DR. S. PEGGE, 

returned to Whittington, at one o'clock or after, we 
had a sober driver. 

It happened to be my birth-day ; which being known 
to some gentlemen at all the three great inns where 
the company dined, they dntnk my health with three 
cheers, requesting me to print my Sermon. This re- 
quest I have complied with, and it is now printed at 
Chesterfield; I will take care that a copy be sent to 
you and Mr. Nichols. But I must observe to you on 
the occasion, that the Sermon will not read so well as it 
was heard, because having good command over myself 
at the time, I delivered it with energy and emphasis. 

There will be a monument erected at the Revolu- 
tion House in Whittington ; a column I suppose; and 
148 guineas are already subscribed. N. B. The Duke 
of Devon and the Earl of Stamford were excepted 
from subscribing, so they reluctantly desisted. Sir 
H. Hunloke, a Catholic, is a subscriber, and went in the 
cavalcade, but was not at church, as you may suppose. 

We have a very fine time here, no signs of winter 
but the absence of leaves ; the want of water however 
is very wonderful, considering the time of year, and is 
even distressing. I grow very idle and good for no- 
thing; but, such as I am, I remain your very affection- 
ate and much obliged servant, S. Pegge. 

Dear Sir, Whittington, Dec. 22, 1788, 

By this time I hope you are in possession of my 
Sermon, as I desired my Son to send one copy to you, 
and another to Mr. Nichols. If I know you, your 
sentiments in politics coincide with mine; so that I 
have no fear of your concurrence in that respect, and 
have only to wish that the composition may please you. 
I am, dear Sir, your truly affectionate and much 
obliged servant, S. Pegge, 



[ Ixxvii 

SEQUEL TO THE PARENTALIA. 

By the Editor. 

Samuel Pegge, Esq. the only surviving Son # 
of the venerable Antiquary whose Life has just 
been recorded, was born in 1731. After an ex- 
cellent classical education, at St. John's College, 
Cambridge, he was admitted a Barrister of the 
Middle Temple ; and was soon after, by the 
favour of the Duke of Devonshire, then Lord 
Chamberlain, appointed one of the Grooms of 
His Majesty's Privy-Chamber, and an Esquire 
of the King's Household. 

Mr. Pegge married Martha, daughter of Dr. 
Henry Bourne, an eminent Physician, of Spital, 
near Chesterfield, in Derbyshire -^, and sister to 
the Rev. John Bourne ^, Rector of Sutton, and 
Vicar of South Wingfield, co. Derby. 

By this lady, who was born in 1732, and died 
in 1767, he had one son, Christopher, of whom 
hereafter ; and one daughter, Charlotte-Anne, who 
died, unmarried, March 17, 1793. 

Mr. Pegge married, secondly, Goodeth Belt, 
daughter of Robert Belt, Esq. of Bossall, co. York, 
by whom he had no issue §. 

After the death of his Father, Mr. Pegge, 
though somewhat advanced in life, was desirous 

* x\nother son, Christopher, died an infant in 1736. 

t Who died in 1775, in his 89th year. 

% Who married Anne-Katharine, Mr. S. Pegge's onlv sbtcr. 

§ She died Oct. 23, 1807, in her 82d year. 



lxxviii MEMOIR OF 

of becoming a Member of the Society of Antiqua- 
ries. He was accordingly elected in IJ96 ; having 
previously shewn that he was well deserving of 
that distinction, by the accuracy and intelligence 
displayed in the " Curialia." 

He survived his Father little more than four 
years ; during which period he enjoyed but an 
indifferent state of bodily health. His mental 
faculties, however, were, to the last, strong and 
unimpaired ; his manners truly elegant ; his con- 
versation always sensible and pleasant ; and his 
epistolary correspondence * lively and facetious. 

His death is thus recorded on an upright stone 

on the West side of Kensington church-yard : 

" Samuel Pegge, Esq. 
died May the 22d, 1800, aged 6 J years. 

Martha, Wife of Samuel Pegge, Esq. 
died June 28, 1767, aged 35 years. 

Charlotte- Anne, the only Daughter 

of Samuel and Martha Pegge, 
died March 17, 1793, aged 31 years. 

Mrs. Christiana Pegge died July 1, 1/90." 

To Mr. Pegge we are indebted for the fore- 
going circumstantial Memoir of his very learned 
Father; and for several occasional communica- 
tions to the Gentleman's Magazine. 

But his principal Work was intituled, "Curi- 
alia; or, an Historical Account of some Branches 

* A few extracts from his Letters are given in p. Ixxxiii. 



SAMUEL PEGGE, ESGl. Ixxix 

of the Royal Household * ;" Three Portions of 
which he published in his life-time : 

Part I. consisted of fC Two Dissertations, ad- 
dressed to the President of the Society of Anti- 
quaries, London ; viz. 1 . On the obsolete Office 
of the Esquires of the Kings Body. 2. On the 
original Nature, Duty, &c. of the Gentlemen of the 
Kings Most Honourable Privy Chamber, 17 82." 

Part II. contains " A Memoir regarding the 
King's Honourable Band of Gentlemen Pen- 
sioners, from its Establishment to the present 
Time, 17 84." 

Part III. is " A Memoir respecting the King's 
Body-Guard of Yeomen of his Guard, from its 
Institution, A. D. 1485 ; 179I." 

During the remaining period of his life, Mr. 
Pegge amused himself in preparing several other 
Numbers of his " Curialia" for the press ; the 
materials for which, and also his " Anecdotes of 
the English Language," he bequeathed to Mr. 
Nichols ; who printed " The Anecdotes of the 
English Language" in 1803. This Work having 
been noticed with much approbation in the prin- 
cipal Reviews, and very favourably received by 

* Had Mr. Vegge lived to have completed his whole design, 
the Title would have run thus : " Hospitium Regis ; or, a His^ 
tory of the Royal Household, and the several Officers thereof, 
principally in the Departments of the Lord Steward, the Lord 
Chamberlain, the Master of the Horse, and the Groom of the 
Stole, Collected and digested by Samuel Pegge, Esq. F.S. A," 



1XXX MEMOIR OF 

the Publick at large, a Second Edition (corrected 
and improved from his own detached MSS.) was 
published in 1814. To this Edition was added, 
" A Supplement to the Provincial Glossary of 
Francis Grose, Esq." compiled by Mr. Pegge. 

In 1806 Mr. Nichols published Two additional 
Numbers of the " Curialia:" 

Part IV. "A History of Somerset House # , 
from the Commencement of its Erection in 1549." 

Part V. " A Dissertation *f> on the ancient Es- 
tablishment and Function of the Serjeant at Arms." 

The further continuation of that interesting 
work was broken off by the melancholy acci- 
dent mentioned in page v. 

In the early part of his life Mr. Pegge was 
a considerable proficient in Musick. He com- 
posed a complete Melo-Drama, both the words 
and the musick in score, which still remains in 
MS. Many Catches and Glees also, and several of 
the most popular Songs for Vauxhall Gardens were 
written and set to music by him. 

His Muse was very fertile; and, though his mo- 
desty forbade the avowal, he was the Author of 
some occasional Prologues and Epilogues, which 
were favourably received by the Publick ; a Pro- 

* The History of Somerset House was with Mr. Pegge a 
favourite subject ; and to this, with the exception of the two 
concluding- pages, he had put the finishing hand. 

f Announced by the Author in his Introduction to Part III, 
and by himself very nearly completed for the press. 



SAMUEL PEGGE, ESQ. lxXXl 

logue, particularly, spoken by Mr. Yates at Bir- 
mingham in 1760, on taking the Theatre into his 
own hands ; an Epilogue spoken by the same ex- 
cellent Actor, at Drury Lane, on his return from 
France ; and another Epilogue, filled with perti- 
nent allusions to the Game of Quadrille, spoken 
by Mrs. Yates, at her Benefit, in three different 
seasons, IJ69, 1770, and 1774. He was the Au- 
thor also of a pathetic Elegy on his own Recovery 
from a dangerous Illness ; and of some pleasant 
Tales and Epigrammatic Poems. 

His other acknowledged writings were, 

1. " An Elegy on the Death of Godfrey Bag- 
nail Clerk e, Esq. (late one of the Representatives 
in Parliament for the County of Derby), who 
died Dec. 26, 17 74*." 

2. " Memoirs of Edward Capell, Esq." -f~ 

3. ce Illustrations of the Churchwardens' Ac- 
compts of St. Michael Spurrier Gate, York," in 
the " Illustrations of the Manners and Expences 
of Antient Times, 1797." 

4. " On a Custom observed by the Lord Lieu- 
tenants of Ireland." (Antiquarian Repertory, 
Edit. 1809, vol. IV. p. 622.) 

5. " Historical Anecdotes of the French Word 
Carosse." (Ibid. p. 642.) — The two last-mentioned 
Tracts are re-printed in the present volume. 

* Of this Elegy Mr. Pegge printed only a few copies, to be 
'given to particular Friends ; but, by his permission, it was re-printed 
for sale by Mr. Joseph Bradly, of Chesterfield. 
f See the " Illustrations of Literature," vol. I. p. 427, 



Ixxxii 

Mr. Pegge also superintended through the Press 
the greater part of his Father's " History of Beau- 
chief Abbey ;" but died before it was completed. 

His only Son, the present Sir Christopher Pegge, 
was admitted a Commoner at Christ Church, 
Oxford, in 17 82 ; took the Degree of B. A. there 
in 1786 ; was elected Fellow of Oriel College in 
1788 ; resigned his Fellowship in 1790, and was 
re-admitted of Christ Church, having been ap- 
pointed, through favour of the Dean and Chapter, 
Dr. Lee's Reader in Anatomy (which situation 
he resigned in 1816, an asthmatic complaint 
having rendered change of residence adviseable) ; 
took the Degrees of M. A. and M. B. 1789, and 
that of M. D, 1792. He was elected one of the 
Physicians to the Radciiffe Infirmary in 1791 
(which he resigned in 1803); F. L. S. 1792; 
F.R.S. 1795 ; and Fellow of the College of Phy- 
sicians 1796; received from his Majesty the Ho- 
nour of Knighthood in 1799, and the Dignity of 
Repius Professor of Phvsic in 1 80J . 

Sir Christopher Pegge married, in 1791, Amey, 
the eldest daughter of Kenton Couse, Esq. of 
Whitehall ; by whom he has issue one daughter, 
Mary, married in 1816 to the Rev. Richard Moore 
Boultbee, of Merton College, Oxford (second son 
of Joseph Boultbee, Esq. of Springfield House, 
near Knowle, Warwickshire), and had a daughter, 
born Dec. 9, 1817. 



LETTERS OF MR. S. PEGGE. lxXxiH 



APPENDIX, No. II. 



To Richard Gough, Esq. 

Dear Sir, Whittington, March 17, 1796. 

There are no persons in the world to whom so much 
regard is due, respecting my late Father's Collections 
in the literary line, as to yourself and Mr. Nichols. 
I daily see obligations, from Books which you have 
respectively conferred upon him, which call for every 
acknowledgement. I am as daily concerned in look- 
ing over papers of various kinds; and will preserve 
them all sacredly, and report upon them when I 
return to Town, which must be in May or June. 

I am labouring to keep possession of this house as 
long as I can, and believe I shall be amply indulged ; 
a circumstance which will enable me to pay every 
attention to what may be of real use to my Father's 
Friends : for, as Botanists allow nothing to be weeds, 
so I admit nothing to be waste paper. 

What I write to you I mean should be said to Mr. 
Nichols, with every kind remembrance. I have only 
to desire that I may be considered (by descent at 
least) as Your obliged Friend, S. Pegge. 

To Mr. Deputy Nichols. 

Dear Sir, Whittington, March 30, 1796. 

A peck of March dust is said to be worth a King's 

ransom; — and to you (who know this house) I may say 

that I am enveloped in as much dust* as would ransom 

an Emperor. I shall be in Town at the end of May 

* The Books in the Library at Whittington had, probably, not 
been dusted for 20 or 30 years.. 



lx'XXlV LETTERS OF MR. S. PEGGE. 

at the farthest, and would wish to work double tides 
in the History of Beauchief-Abbey while I stay ; for 
I shall find it necessary to pass as lung a Summer as 
I can here, where (by the new Rector's leave) I hope 
to continue till the approach of Winter. S. Pegge. 

Dear Sir, Whittington, April 12, 1796. 

I am really so much engaged (for I am not half 
through my Herculean labour) that I have not leisure 
to think of my late nearest Fri?nd, so as to erect any 
memorial in the Gentleman's Magazine at present. 

I have written to Lord Leicester and to Mr. Top- 
ham by this post, to request that I may be hung up, 
according to Law, at the Society of Antiquaries, in 
hopes of being honourably cut down, and receiving 
Christian Burial. The Director*, I trust, will appear 
to character when my Trial comes on. God send me 
a good deliverance ! What I write to you, I write 
to Mr. Gough also through you. 

Your obliged Friend, &c. S. Pegge. 

To George Allan, Esq. Darlington. 

Sir, Whittington,. May 2, 1796. 

In the course of the last year my late Father (Rev. 
Dr. Pegge) among other Books made me a present 
of " The Northumberland Household Book ;" which 
he told me (as I since find by his memoranda) was 
lent to you. I take the liberty of wishing to have it 
returned soon, directed to my Friend Mr. Nichols. 

I have heard my Father often speak of you, Sir, 
with much respect, and I shall always honour my 
Father's Friends. I am, &c. S. Pegge. 

Sir, Whittington, May 23, 1796. 

I thank you for the favour of your Letter, which 
was anticipated by a line from Mr. Nichols, advising 
me that " The Northumberland Household Book" 

* Mr. Gough was then Director of the Society of Antiquaries. 



LETTERS OF MR. S. PEGGE. IxXXV 

was safe in his hands. The honourable mention I hear 
of my late Father, almost every cfey, is very gratify- 
ing to me, though I know it is not undeserved on his 
part. As to Mr. Brander's Print of my Father, I have 
a very few in London ; and one of the best of them 
shall be at your service. I cannot think the Print in 
the least like my Father; but I have a Painting* 
which is a very strong resemblance. 

Your very obedient humble servant, S. Pegge. 

To Mr. Nichols. 

Dear Sir, Whittington, July 2 8, 1796. 

We left London on Monday the eleventh ; but did 
not make Whittington till last Sunday the 24th inst. 
We passed part of Wednesday the 13th, and all the 
14th and 15th, at Southwell, with the new Rector of 
Whittington, and had a very pleasurable visit. We 
next touched at Spital, and as we thought only for 
three or four days ; but were detained there by con- 
trary winds, which blew us into parties of company 
and venison. 

I am, dear Sir, yours very sincerelj T , S. Pegge. 

Dear Sir, York, Sunday, Sept. 11, 1796. 

Where and when this will find you, whether in 
Urban or in Sylvan scenes, I know not : but the pur- 
port of it is to desire that you would send me (to 
Whittington) the last Impression of the Family Pedi- 
gree of Bourne. 

Whether you ever insert it in your Leicestershire or 
not, I wish to have it completed, as far as may be, 
from my own connexion with it; and because I know 

* This striking resemblance of my worthy old friend Dr. Pegge, 
"which I have often had the agreeable opportunity of comparing with 
the Original when conversing with the good Doctor at Whittington, 
is now in the possession of his Grandson, Sir Christopher Pegge; by 
whose kind permission a faithful Engraving from it, admirably 
executed by Philip Audinet, accompanies the present Publication. 



IxXXvi LETTERS OF MR. S. PEGGE. 

that every difficulty is doubled to every succeeding 
generation. The Historian of Leicestershire must 
have had repeated experience of this circumstance in 
his investigations. Yours, &c. S. Pegge. 

Dear Sir, Scotland yard, Feb. 20, 1797. 

I am now going seriously to work, to bring the Coins 
forward by auction. The whole collection amounts 
in number to between 1100 and 1200; but of what 
value the hammer must determine. 

S. Pegge. 

Dear Sir, June 10, 1797. 

Mr. Gough was so obliging as to mention hopes of 
seeing us at Enfield ; and I have been for several days 
on the point of writing to him a line of thanks, and to 
express the willingness of the spirit, and the weakness 
of the flesh ; for, alas ! I have got as much gout as 
will last me till we go into Derbyshire in the second 
week in July. In this situation it would be much to 
the honour of your humanity to come and pass an even- 
ing with us. 1 am sure to be found at home. S. P. 

Dear Sir, Scotland yard, June 18, 1797. 

I hope this will find you safely returned from your 
excursion, and disengaged, as I wish you to pass a 
long evening with me. Mr. Bowyer Nichols would 
tell you that I am now at leisure to go on with " Beau- 
chief Abbey" for a little while ; but without your as- 
sistance, know not how. Send me word what even- 
ing you can best spare, and bring your Son with you. 
and let it be very speedily. I shall soon put an end 
to the Session, and this Printing -ment will be pro- 
rogued to the 5th of October, then to meet for dis- 
patch of business. S. Pegge. 

Dear Sir, December 7, 1797. 

As you are connected with the Representatives of 
Dr. Farmer, or the person who acts for them, I wish 



LETTERS OF MR. S. PEGGE. IxXXvii 

you would procure a receipt for a copy of Skelton, 
which was found in my Father's collection after his 
death, and which was evidently Dr. Farmer's property. 
As I hear that Dr. Farmer's Library is intended for 
sale, I should be glad that this book might be soon re- 
stored to the Executors ; and my original wish to re- 
turn it, may appear from a letter of mine to Dr. 
Farmer, dated so long ago as the 4th of February last, 
which has probably been found among his papers. I 
received no answer to it, which I imputed to his then 
bad state of health. Yours, &c. S. Pegge. 

Dear Sm, Harrow gate , Aug. 25, 1799. 

Our history, since I saw you, is briefly this. We left 
London on the 18th of July, and made a journey of 
three days to Spital, near Chesterfield. After resting 
there, for as many days, we set off for this place, 
which we found very full, and made our quarters good 
at the humblest house we could find ; but with the 
most comfortable accommodations that a very uncom- 
fortable place can afford ; and are reconciled to our 
situation. We dine (en masse J about 20 on the ave- 
rage, keep good hours, and are not pestered with 
gamblers, ladies-maids, or lap-dogs. In some houses 
they dine 120 people!!! 

The water of this place is a very strong sulphur, and 
I believe, is the most powerful of any in the kingdom. 
The most quiet of this sort of houses is much too tur- 
bulent for me; besides that it is difficult for one who 
cannot walk, or even saunter about, as others do, to 
fill up the chasms between meals, except by reading, 
which is scarcely practicable here. I find myself, 
however, tolerably habituated to noise and talk ; and 
as to the art of doing nothing. I have made myself per- 
fectly master of it. As a proof of it, 1 have been 
three weeks in writing this letter. 

If you ask me how I do ? I answer, I don't know at 
present. I have experienced much ?20?i-valescence, 
and am told cow-valescence will follow. S. Pegge. 



lxXXviH LETTERS OF MR. S. PEGGE. 

Dear Sir, Monday, January 27, 1800. 

The Lady* mentioned in the enclosed Article is 
my Niece, who hopes to open the Ball in the List of 
Marriages in this Month. I send also an article for 
the Obituary f, the death of a Brother of my Wi fe, and 
whose death has long been expected. I am a lodger 
in my own first-floor, with some gout, which will 
neither lead nor drive ; but I should be very happy 
to receive a charitable visit of chat in any evening that 
you can spare. I do not ask Mr. Bow}'er Nichols, as I 
cannot encounter more than one person at a time. 

Your very sincere friend, S. Pegge. 

Dear Sir, March 17, 1800. 

Presuming that you are returned from Hinckley, 
and have nothing in the world to do, I hope you will 
give us your company in an evening very soon ; for at 
that time of the day I see nobody else. Let me hear 
by one of your Representatives in Parliament X on what 
evening I may expect you, that I may rectify my spirits 
accordingly. Adieu ! S. Pegge. 

* Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. John Bourne, *of Spital, was 
married, Jan. 1, 1800, to Robert Jennings, Esq. of Hull, 
f Mr. John Belt, of York, Surgeon, died Jan. 23, 1800. 
\ So he humourously styled the Printer's Errand Boys. 



OR, 

THE HISTORY 

OF THE 

ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 



INTRODUCTION. 



I WAS led into the following investiga- 
tion from a natural and kind of instinctive 
curiosity, and a desire of knowing what was 
the antient state of the Court to which I have 
the honour, by the favour of his Grace 
William the late Duke of Devonshire, to 
compose a part. It is obvious to suppose that 
so large a body must have undergone various 
revolutions, and have borne very different 
complexions according to times and circum- 
stances : and having occasion to consult 
some MSS. in the Lord Chamberlain's 
Office, by his Lordship's permission, upon 
a matter of no consequence to relate, I 

B 






2 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

thought I discerned, in the course of my 
search, that materials were to be found suf- 
ficient to furnish out a detail. Having free 
access to the use of a large Library, and by 
the favour of many friends, to whom I take 
this opportunity of testifying my obligations, 
I was enabled to trace back the state of the 
Court in darker ages, though but by a glim- 
mering light. 

Notwithstanding ample revenues have al- 
ways been provided for support of the dig- 
nity and splendour of the Royal House of 
the Kings of England, equal, if not perhaps 
superior, to those of any Court in Europe^ 
yet we shall find they have varied very much 
in different Reigns, as times and circum- 
stances have required; though not always 
for laudable reasons. Some of our Kings 
have been so profuse, that, either from their 
extensive liberality, or more frequently worse 
inducements, they have thereby lessened the 
estates of the Crown so very much, that re- 
trenchments, either in the number or ex- 
pence of their Households (and sometimes 
both) have become the necessary covise- 



INTRODUCTION. 6 

quence. Others* have found the Crown 
Revenues so much contracted at their Ac- 
cession, that they have been obliged to de- 
mand resumptions of grants made by their 
immediate Predecessor, in order to enable 
themselves to support the Regal dignity with 
a proper degree of splendour. Others f, 
again, from a wanton spirit of prodigality, 
have rendered it necessary for them to resume 
even their own grants ; a measure equally 
scandalous to the character of the Prince, as 
derogatory to the honour of the Crown. 

As to resumptions, several of each sort 
will be seen in the following sheets, ante- 
cedent to the Reformation; and since that 
period there have been repeated occasions 
for reductions (ex necessitate rei) in the 
tumultuous reigns of Charles the First, 
Charles the Second, and James the Second. 

When we speak of the superior magnifi- 
cence of otir own Court, we may add, that no 
other makes so liberal appointments to its 
Officers, could we know the Establishments 
of the rest. 

* Henry II. f William Rufus. 

b2 



4 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

In France they figure away with thousands 
oflivresper annum; but, when these come to 
be liquidated into pounds sterling, the idea is 
lost, and the appointment of a Lord of the 
Bed-chamber sinks down into a salary not 
superior to our Gentlemen Ushers. 

In Poland the Officers of the State and 
Household have no salaries nor fees*; but are 
content with the honour, unless the King 
chose to reward them with a Starostie, a kind 
of Fiefs inherent in the Crown for this pur- 
pose. 

At the Court of Turin, the salaries of the 
Officers of the Court are extremely small, and 
every way inadequate to their rank. Fru- 
gality and ceconomy, exercised in a Royal 
manner, are the characteristics of that Court ; 
insomuch as that, if the Officers of State had 
not an income arising from their patrimony, 
their salaries would not afford them food and 
raiment f. 

* See Letters concerning the present state of 
Poland, printed for T. Payne, 1773, Letter iii. p. 57. 

f Lord Corke's Letters from Italy, published 1773 ? 
p. 52. 



INTRODUCTION. 5 

The Emperor of Germany has one very 
lingular prerogative, very inconvenient to 
the inhabitants of Vienna, that of taking to 
himself the first floor of everv house in the 
City (a few privileged places excepted) for 
the use of the Officers of his Court and 
jlrmy ; so that, on this account, says my Au- 
thor *, " Princes, Ambassadors, and Nobles, 
usually inhabit the second stories ; and the 
third, fourth, and even fifth floors (the 
houses being large and high) are well fitted 
up for the reception of opulent and noble 
families/' The houses being so large, a 
single floor suffices for most of the principal 
and largest families in the City. 

For particulars relative to the Court of 
Denmark, it may be sufficient to refer to the 
account given by Lord Molesworth, who re- 
sided several years as Envoy Extraordinary 
from King William III. 

* Dr. Burney, in his Present State of Munich, in 
Germany, vol. I. pp. 205, 295. 



THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 



WILLIAM I. 

After that great Revolution called The 
Conquest, it is to be supposed that a com- 
petent part, and that no inconsiderable one, 
was allotted for the support of the Dignity 
of the King's House. How large the esta- 
blishment of the Household was, it would be 
very difficult to ascertain at this distance of 
time; but we know that the Conqueror's 
Revenues were very great, and that, besides 
the public branch of it for the defence of the 
Kingdom against invasions from abroad, 
there must have been an ample residue to 
maintain the Court in dignity and magnifi- 
cence at home. William, as soon as he was 
seated on his new Throne, was careful to 
make a general and accurate Survey of the 
whole kingdom, notwithstanding there had 
been a Survey taken within less than 200 years 
by King Alfred, then remaining at Win- 
chester. * But William's jealous caution did 

* Called Codex Wintoniensis. See Sir John 
Spelman's Life of Alfred. 



WILLIAM I. / 

not permit him to trust to this. He saw the 
necessity there was to make the most of 
things; and, looking on money as a necessary 
means of maintaining and increasing power, 
he accumulated as much as he could, though 
rather, perhaps, from an ambitious than a 
covetous motive ; at least his avarice was 
subservient to his ambition; and he laid up 
wealth in his coffers, as he did arms in his 
magazines, to be drawn out on proper occa- 
sions, for the defence and enlargement of 
his dominions ■*. 

In William's Survey, which we call Domes- 
day Book, particular attention was first paid 
to the King's right; and the Terra Regis 
(as it was called), which consisted of such 
lands as either had belonged to the Crown, 
or to the King individually, was placed first ; 
and, upon the whole, 1422 ^ manors, or 
lordships, were appropriated to the Crown ; 
besides lands and farms, and besides quit- 
rents paid out of other subordinate manors. 
Whether William assumed to himself and the 

* Lord Lyttelton's Life of Henry II. vol. i. p. 74 ; 
edit. 8vo. t Domesday Book. 



8 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

Crown more than he ought, is hard to say; 
but it is to be supposed he was^not very 
sparing or delicate. The Terra Regis is 
said to have consisted of such lands as Ed- 
ward the Confessor was found to have been 
possessed of, the alienation of which was held 
impious ; to which some think William added 
the forfeited estates of those who opposed 
him at the decisive battle of Hastings * ; and 
likewise the lands of such Barons, and others, 
who afterwards forsook him. These advan- 
tages he might, perhaps, be glad to take, as 
they enabled him better to reward his Nor- 
man friends and followers, who were nume- 
rous; and furnished him likewise with a plea 
to enrich himself, by annexing part of such 
lands to the Crown, and distributing the 
rest, with a reservation of quit-rents and ser- 
vices. We may add to these, many appa- 
rently unjustifiable means which the Con- 
queror used to enrich himself, though by the 
greatness of the antient Crown*estate, and 
the feudal profits to which he was legally 
entitled, he was already one of the richest 

* Rapin. 



WILLIAM I. 9 

Monarchs in Europe. The Saxon Chronicle 
says, he omitted no opportunity of extorting 
money from his subjects upon the slightest 
pretext, and speaks of it as a thing of course*. 
It must be owned, however, (says Lord Lyt- 
telton) that, if his avarice w r as insatiably 
and unjustly rapacious, it was not meanly 
parsimonious, nor of that sordid kind which 
brings on a Prince dishonour and contempt. 
He supported the dignity of the Crown with 
a decent magnificence; and, though he never 
was lavish, he was sometimes liberal -f. 

Thus did the Conqueror leave an ample 
and splendid revenue to his Successor, suf- 
ficient to maintain his Court in dignity and 
magnificence, and adequate to every expence 
both foreign and domestic. It is, at this 
day, almost impossible to discover the nature 

* "Pro more suo, ex torsi tmul turn pecuniae suis sub- 
ditis ubicunque haberet aliquem pretextum, sive jure 
sive aliter." Chron. Sax. p. 187. In another place 
the writer says, he extorted money, " partim juste 3 
maxima, vero ex parte injuste, rebus parum urgen- 
tibus." p. 191. 

t Lord Lyttelton's Henry II. vol. i. p. 74, 



10 THE KOYAE HOUSEHOLD. 

and magnitude of William's Household ; but 
most probably, as it was numerous, it was 
likewise magnificent; though, perhaps, com- 
posed of Officers and Offices very different 
from what have been adopted in succeeding 
Reigns. 

We read of Treasurers, for such a King 
must have: and in the next Reign mention 
is made of Robert Fitz-Hamon, Gentle- 
man of the JBed-chamher * , who conquered 
Wales, while William Rufus was engaged 
in a war with Scotland, anno 1091 ; and 
we afterwards read of other Officers similar 
to what we have at present, though the 

* Gentleman of the Bed-chamber means what we 
now call a Lord of the Bed-chamber -, which fast is a 
title of a late introduction. When the Gentleman was 
the superior, the next subordinate Officer was the 
Groom ; which last title continues to this day. Had 
the first been originally called Lords, the latter would 
probably have been styled the Gentleman. William 
of Malmsbury speaks of the Cubicularius in that ridi- 
culous instance of William Rufus's absurd profusion 
with respect to the price of a pair of hose ; by whom, 
I should suppose, he means an inferior Officer of the 
Bed-chamber, by the rough language he uses to him ; 
no less than calling him a son of a whore.— Fill, ait, 
meretricis. 



WILLIAM I. 11 

rudeness of the times rendered most of the 
offices now in being unnecessary, which seem 
to have been added from time to time, as 
luxury and refined necessity required, and 
in conformity to the pride and ostentatious 
spirit of the Prince who erected them. 

It is probable, however, that what was 
wanting in parade, was equalled by an ex- 
pence in hospitality, which must, of course, 
employ a great many Domestics of different 
kinds in their several departments, to which we 
may suppose were added many of a Military 
nature, which the situation of the Conqueror 
rendered necessary in his new dominion. 

There being but few 7 Placemen in those 
times, the Court was chiefly composed of 
Ecclesiastics, Barons, Knights, and other 
Military Gentlemen, led by the hopes of 
preferment or promotion ; and Lord Lyttel- 
ton says, William w 7 as always liberal to his 
Soldiers and to the Church *. The Barons 
were, at this time of day, the chief Council 
of the Realm ; they held their Baronies of the 
King, for which they were perpetually doing 
homage; and on these accounts the Court 

* Life of Henry II. vol. i. p. 74. 



12 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

must have been crowded, — at least much fre- 
quented. 

As to the internal part of the Court, 
I mean the Attendants on the Royal per- 
son, we know but very little. King Alfred, 
however, who lived 200 years before the 
Conquest, during his attention to the Police 
of his Kingdom in general, did not forget 
the internal good government of his House- 
hold ; for we learn from Ingulphus -f that he 
divided his Attendants into three classes, who 
were appointed to wait by turns, monthly. 

Whether this mode was continued by his 

* Dividens Familiam in tres Turmas, singulis Tur- 
mis singulos Principes imposuit ; et unusquisque Prin- 
ceps cum sua Turma per unum mensem in Regis Mi- 
nisterio Palatium conservavit. Uno mense complete-, 
exiens ad proprios agros cum sua Turma, propriis 
rjegotiis per duorum mensium spatium intendebat ; 
et interim secundus Princeps per unum mensem, et 
tertius Princeps per alium mensem post ilium in Regis 
Palatio ministrabat : ut postea propriis utilitatibus per 
duos menses quaelibet Turma vacaret. Hac revolu- 
tione Servorum suorum, totiusque familiae suae rota- 
tions, usus est omni tempore vitae suae. Ingulph. 
Hist. p. 870. 



WILLIAM I. 13 

Successors, I do not learn. William might 
perhaps reject it as being Saxon, and adopt 
a plan similar to the French Court, in com- 
pliment to his Norman adherents. This rou- 
tine of waiting, not much unlike the present 
mode, rendered the service of Alfred's at- 
tendants both ceconomical, and agreeable to 
themselves. Sir John Spelman, in his Life 
of King Alfred, supposes that the Officers 
who are now called Quarter-waiters are, 
from their title, a relique of this mode of 
waiting established by Alfred. But this 
(with deference to the Gentlemen of that 
Corps) seems to be going too far, and does 
not agree with Ingulphus, from whom Sir 
John takes his account ; who says, that the 
Officers of King Alfred's Household were 
divided into three classes, and that each class 
waited alternately monthly, not quarterly; 
so that no one class waited two consecutive 
months, and each would, of course, wait four 
months in the year, with an interval of two 
months between each wait. It is true, they 
would renew their waiting once in a quarter 
of course, from the number of classes, but 



14 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

no part of them attended for a quarter toge- 
ther ; and I apprehend the Quarter -waiters 
received their name because they waited a 
quarter of a year at a time by turns, as their 
superiors > the Daily-waiters, waited daily by 
turns. Alfred's Household most resembled 
the Gentlemen Pensioners in the mode of at- 
tendance, who, to this day, wait in classes 
quarterly. 

I shall now give Sir John Spelman's ac- 
count at large (as I have Ingulphus's), 
where he gives a supposed, and not impro- 
bable, reason for this mode of attendance. 

" He [Alfred] having, it seems, observed 
the course that Solomon took in preparing 
timber at Lebanon for the Temple, where 
thirty thousand, assigned to the work, went 
by ten thousand at a time, wrought there a 
month, and then returning, stayed two 
months at home, until their turn in the 
fourth month came about again* — he, apply- 
ing this to his own occasions, ordained the 
like course in his attendance, making a tri- 
plicate thereof, insomuch that he had a 

* Ingulph. ubi supra. 



WILLIAM I. 15 

three-fold shift of all Domestic Officers ; each 
of which were, by themselves, under the 
command of a several Major-domo *, or 
Master of the Household, who, coming with 
his servants under his charge, to wait at 
Court, stayed there a month, and then re- 
turning home, were supplied by the second 
ternary, and they again by the third 3 until 
the course coming about, the first of them 
(after two months recess at home) did, ivith 
the quarter f, renew their monthly service at 
the Court. I should conjecture (continues 
he) that the King, for his more honourable 
attendance, took this course in point of 
Royalty and State, there being (as it then 
stood with the State) very few men of qua- 
lity fit to stand before a King, who, by their 
fortunes or dependency, were not other- 
where besides engaged ; neither was there, 
in those times, any great assurance to be had 
of any man, unless he were one of such con- 
dition, whose service, when the King was 

* Princeps. Ingulphus, in eod. 
f This, I suppose, led Sir John into the above sup- 
position about the Quarter- Waiters. 



16 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

fain to use one month in the quarter, it was 
necessary for the common -wealth that he 
should remit them the other two months 
unto their own occasions. Neither used he 
this course with some of his Officers only (as 
there are those who understand it to have 
been a course taken only with those of his 
Guard), but with all his whole attendance ; 
neither used he it for a time only, but for his 
whole life ; and I little doubt but that the 
use at Court, at this day, of Officers, Quarter - 
waiters, had the first beginning even from 
this invention of the King*." 

The Translator of this Life of Alfred into 
Latin, Dr. Obadiah Walker, has taken a 
little latitude in the last sentence of this pas- 
sage, and has wandered totally from the 
mark. His words are, " Neque multum du- 
bito quin Dapiferi hodierni (quos Quarter- 
tvaiters appeilamus) qui per singulos anni 
quadrantes, Regi ad mensam ministrant, ab 
hoc Regis institute, manarint." Now it is 
pretty certain that the Quarter-waiters are 

* Spelman's Life of Alfred, edit. Hearne, p. 198. 



WILLIAM I. 17 

not Officers at all connected, by their post, 
with the King's table, they being a se- 
condary degree of Gentlemen Ushers, called 
in a grant of Fees temp. Car. I. (in Rymer's 
Fcedera) Ante-Ambulones. The Doctor 
seems, by the word Dapiferi, to have con- 
founded them with the Sewers; which is 
strengthened by the following words, " qui 
ad mensam ministrant." 

It is allowed that King Alfred enlarged 
his Household very much ; but, what was the 
nature and office of the individuals of it, we 
shall probably never be able to gather. We 
may, however^ fairly suppose his Retinue in 
number, and his Court in splendour, was far 
superior to those of any of his Predecessors., 

Of the Conqueror s Court we know still 
less, neither do I learn that King Alfred's 
establishment was followed by his immediate 
successors ; but it is reasonable to suppose 
that the Court, as well as the Kingdom, 
would be new-modelled, and assume a dif- 
ferent face, upon so great a revolution as that 
of the Conquest. 



18 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 



WILLIAM RUFUS. 

Notwithstanding the fair inheritance left 
by the Conqueror, equal to the Regal 
Dignity, and the exigences of the State ^ 
William Rufus, the successor, not only dis- 
sipated the great treasure of which he was 
possessed at the demise of his Father, but 
ran into so extravagant a profusion of ex- 
pence, that he was at last obliged to apply 
to resources, unwarrantable in themselves, 
and derogatory to his Crown and Dignity. 
The late King's treasures were said to amount 
to 60,000Z. ; but^according toHenry of Hunt- 
ingdon *, who lived very near the time, to 
60,000 pound weight of silver, exclusive of 
gold, jewels, plate, and robes ; and " the 
silver money alone (says Lord Lyttelton *{*), 

* Erant autem in Thesauro 60 Mille Libra? Argenti. 
Lib. vi. 

t Introduction to the Life of Henry II. The Reader 
may see his Lordship's grounds of computation in a 
long note on this passage. The Saxon Chronicle says, 
the King's Treasures were difficiles numeratu, p. 192, 



WILLIAM RUFUS. 19 

according to the best computation I am able 
to make, was equivalent at least to nine hun- 
dred thousand pounds of our money at pre- 
sent:'' but this would not suffice; for the 
Crown-lands, which were held so sacred by his 
ancestors, were alienated ; and he was at last 
compelled, as a dernier resort, to resume his 
own grants, a practice now used for the first 
(but not the last) time, and a measure equally 
scandalous and iniquitous. Rufus's ordinary 
revenues did not probably exceed those of his 
Father; but, as he ran into more needless 
and wanton expences, he was necessitated to 
make frequent demands upon his people. 
Considering; the influence of artful Church- 
men, in those times of Papal tyranny, over 
weak Princes, it is not to be wondered that 
Rufus should be easily prevailed upon by 
Ranulphus, Bishop of Durham *, who was 
Master both of his Councils and his Con- 
science, to resume his own grants, though 

* Lord Lyttelton calling him Ralph Flambard, a 
Norman. Life of Henry II. vol. i. p. 87, where his 
character may be seen at large. 

c 2 



20 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

made for valuable considerations ; or to take 
any measure, however unwarrantable and un- 
precedented — 

" Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum." 
Amongst other acts of rapacity, made in 
a manner necessary by his former profusion, 
he kept the See of Canterbury vacant four 
years (upon the death of Lanfrane), that he 
might take the profits to his own use ; nay, 
he did the same by the Bishoprick of Lincoln, 
and all others that became void in his Reign ; 
and at the time of his death he had in his 
hands the Sees of Canterbury, Winchester, 
Salisbury, twelve * rich Abbeys, besides 
many other Benefices of less considera- 
tion •f ; so little regard has ever been paid 
to things sacred by Arbitrary Princes (as 
our Kings were at that time) to gratify ei- 
ther their necessities or their passions. But 
this was not the worst part of the story ; for, 
not satisfied with the First-fruits, to which he 
was entitled, — after he had seized the vacant 
Benefices, and pillaged them of every thing 

* The Saxon Chronicle says but Eleven. 
t Matthew Paris. 



WILLIAM BUPUS. 21 

valuable (even to the very Shrines), he sold 
them publicly to the best bidder, without re- 
gard to merit or capacity *. 

After having been led, by the nature of 
the subject, to speak thus freely of this 
King's rapacitv, it is but justice to mention 
an instance of his generosity. It is related 
that, two Monks striving to outbid each 
other for a rich Abbey, the King perceived a 
third standing by, who did not bid any thing; 
to whom the King addressing himself, asked 
" how much he would give ?" The Monk 
replied, " he had no money, and, if he had, 
his conscience would not suffer him to lay it 
out in that manner :" upon which the King 
swore his usual oath f " that he best deserved 
it, and should have it for nothing J." 

Though William was thus continually 
filling his coffers with these dishonourable 
and sacrilegious spoils, yet was he avaricious 

* Saxon Chronicle. 

t " Per Vultum di Lucca," See Lord Lyttelton's 
note, vol. i. p. 424, octavo. I have seen a private 
letter from his Lordship in defence of his opinion. 

% Higden* 



22 THE EOYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

without frugality, covetous and prodigal at 
the same time ; always in want, and devising 
new ways to raise money, however mean and 
despicable. I cannot omit one artful and 
almost ludicrous method which Rufus prac- 
tised to raise money, in the war with his bro- 
ther Robert, who had engaged the French 
in his interest. " Under pretence (says 
M. Rapin, from Simeon Dunelmensis, Mat- 
thew Paris, &c.) that there was occasion for 
supplies of men, William Rufus [then in 
Normandy] sent orders into England, to 
raise, with all possible speed, 20,000 men. 
In raising this army, such were purposely 
taken for soldiers who were well to pass, or 
to whom it was very inconvenient to leave 
their families. When these levies were 
going to embark, the King's Treasurer told 
them, by his order, " that they might every 
man return home, upon payment of ten shil- 
lings each." This news was so acceptable to 
the soldiers, listed thus against their wills, 
that there was not one but who was glad 
to be dismissed at so easy a rate. By this 
means William raised the sum of 10,000Z, 



WILLIAM RUFUS. 23 

with which he bribed the French to retire. 
Various other instances of extortion and ra- 
pacity (though not attended with so much 
ingenuity as this) might be adduced from 
the history of this Reign, recorded by con- 
temporary writers ; but enough has been 
mentioned to convince us that but little order 
or decorum is to be expected within the 
walls of the Court of so unprincipled a King. 
On the contrary, indeed, all writers agree * 
in their accounts of the dissolute manners of 
his Household and Adherents, which called 
forth rigid edicts in the next Reign, for the 
suppression of vices which had grown too 
flagrant to be removed by reprobation alone. 
The crimes laid to the charge of his retinue 
were, some of them, of the most serious na- 
ture, and required an uncommon exertion of 

* " Ipse namque, et qui ei famulabantur (says 
Matthew Paris) omnia rapiebant, omnia conterebant, 
et subvertebant. Adulteria violenter, et impune com- 
mittebant, quicquid fraudis et nequitise antea non 
erat, his temponbus pullulavit." Henry of Hunting- 
don uses nearly the same, but rather stronger, expres- 
sions. 



24 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

severity; as we shall see presently, fa In the 
magnificence of his Court and buildings, 
however, (says Lord Lyttelton *,) he greatly 
exceeded any King of that age. But 
though his profuseness (continues his Lord- 
ship) arose from a noble and generous 
nature, it must be accounted rather a vice 
than a virtue ; as, in order to supply the un- 
bounded extent of it, he was very rapacious. 
If he had lived long, his expences would 
have undone him, and they had brought him 
some years before his death into such diffi- 
culties, that even if his temper had not been 
despotic, his necessities would have rendered 
him a Tyrant. 



HENRY I. 

After so bad an oeconomist (to say no 
worse of William Rufus), we may hope to 
see a more prudent direction of the revenues 
of the State, and a less abandoned Retinue 

* Introduction to History of Henry II. 



HENRY I. 25 

about the Royal Person. This is, however, 
no great compliment to Henry, who suc- 
ceeded ; for a moderate character will appear 
with some degree pf lustre, after one so very 
much disfigured as that of Rufus. Henry 
had, without question, many good qualities. 
He was a wise and prudent Prince, and, as 
the Saxon Chronicle says, " magno honore 
habitus ^;" but yet, we shall discover, one of 
his ruling passions was avarice, when we 
come to look nearly into his interior conduct 
in life. There was a glaring inconsistency 
in his very outset; for, soon after his ac- 
cession, we find him punishing and impri- 
soning the abettors of William Rufus's 
exactions, and, among the rest, Ranulph 
Bishop of Durham, the Minister and in- 
strument of all those oppressive and unwar- 
rantable measures ; and yet, very soon after, 
we behold Henry sequestering to his own 
use the revenues of the Archbishopric of Can- 
terbury, and keeping them in his hands for 
five years, after the example of the very man 
whose rapacious conduct he had, but just 

* Saxon Chronicle, p. 237. 



26 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

before, publicly condemned '*. It is true he 
recalled many grants bestowed upon crea- 
tures and undeserving persons in the late 
Reign ; but whether upon motives of justice 
or avarice I do not determine It wiM be 
found that he died exceedingly rich for those 
times (by whatever means the wealth was 
amassed) ; for he did not omit any opportu- 
nity of taxing his subjects, where he could 
do it with a tolerable grace, though he did 
it not. in so bare-faced a manner as Rufus 
had done. Thus he availed himself of an 
antient Norman feudal custom, on occasion 
of the marrying his eldest daughter +. This 
custom was not now first established by 
Henry himself, as some have supposed \ ; 
but was one of the antient aids due to the 
King from his subjects, and having lain 
dormant many years, was now revived, but 
not introduced otherwise than that Henry 
happened to be the first King, of the Norman 
race, who married his eldest daughter. In 

* Morem fratris sui Willielmi Regis secutus. 
Eadmer. 

f Aide a Fille marier. J Polydore Vergil. 



HENRY I. 27 

this he might he justifiable enough ; but then 
he seems to have laid the tax at a prodigious 
high rate, for it is said, by some calculations, 
to have amounted to upwards of 800,000/. 
Sterling. Among other things, Henry was 
very attentive to the reformation of abuses 
and irregulanties that had crept into the 
Court during the Reign of his Brother. 

The accounts given of William's Court are 
surprizing for that age, when one would sup- 
pose our ancestors to have been rough and 
unpolished, little addicted to the softer vices, 
and totally unacquainted with the effemi- 
nacies of succeeding times ; but we find that, 
notwithstanding men's minds were then so 
much turned to war and athletic diversions, 
excess and sensuality prevailed in a very 
scandalous manner among the Nobility, and 
even among the Clergy. Vanity, lust, and 
intemperance, reigned through the whole 
kingdom. The men appeared so effeminate 
in their dress and manners, that they shewed 
themselves men in nothing but their attempts 
upon the chastity of women *. So William 

* Eadmer. 



28 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

of Malmsbury, speaking of the effeminacy of 
William Rufus's Court, says, " Mollitie cor- 
poris certare cum fceminis — gressum fran- 
gere — gestu soluto — et latere nudo incedere, 
Adolescentium specimen erat : enerves — • 
emolliti — expugnatores alienae pudicitise, pro- 
digi suae." By many evidences it appears 
that a luxury in apparel was very general 
among the Nobles and Gentry of that age ; 
even the Nuns were not free from it. 

The garments of the English, before their 
intermixture with the Normans, were gene- 
rally plain ; but they soon adopted the fashions 
of these new-comers, and became as magni- 
ficent in their dress as their fortunes could 
bear*. So that we see the French have, 
ever since the Conquest, been the standard 
of the English dress ; and though we often 
complain of the folly of our times, in adopt- 
ing French modes, it appears to be a prac- 
tice that has existed time immemorial. Lord 
Lyttelton informs us (from Ordericus Vitalis) 
that there was a revolution in dress in Wil- 
liam Rufus's reign, not only in England^ 

* Lord Lyttelton, 



HENRY X. 29 

but in all the Western parts of Europe ; and 
that, instead of close coats, which till then 
had been used, as most commodious for ex- 
ercise and a military life, trailing garments 
with long sleeves, after the manner of the 
Asiaticks, were universally worn. The men 
were also very nice in curling and dividing 
their hair, which, on the fore-part of their 
heads, was suffered to grow very long, but cut 
short behind* ; — a stvle of head -dressing, 
which, if introduced now, would spoil all the 
Macaroni's of the age; for their comfort, how- 
ever, it may be inferred from hence that simi- 
lar beings have long subsisted in some shape 
or other. 

To return to Henry. We find the reforma- 
tion of his Court was one of the first steps 
towards ingratiating himself with his subjects. 
The Courtiers, for the most part, sure of im- 
punity, were wont to tyrannize over the 
people in a shameful manner. Not content 
with every species of oppression, and of se- 
cretly attempting the chastity of women, they 
gloried in it publicly. To remedy these 
disorders in his Court, Henry published a 

* Introduction to Life of Henry II. 



30 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

very severe edict against all offenders in ge- 
neral, and particularly against Adulterers / 
and such as abused their power by oppress- 
ing the people, he ordered to be put td 
death without mercy. Some who were al- 
ready notorious on that account were ba- 
nished the Court, among whom was Ra- 
nulph Bishop of Durham, who was like- 
wise imprisoned by the advice of the great 
Council of the Kingdom *. This was in the 
first year of Henry's Reign ; but it had so 
little effect, that five years afterwards we 
find a second reformation ; for, the former 
proclamation being ineffectual, it was ne- 
cessary to publish another, with still greater 
penalties ; and this severity was unavoidably 
necessary, to check the licentiousness that 
had crept in, from the connivance which 
offences of every kind had hitherto met with. 
Thus, we see, the dissoluteness of William 
Rufus's Court did not die with him; nor is 
it an easy thing to subdue so many-headed a 
monster as Vice in power. When the Mag- 
nates set bad examples in Courts, the in* 

* Matthew Paris.. 



HENRY I. 31 

ferior Officers are always ready to ape them ; 
and crimes that in the commission are com- 
mon to all men verv soon descend from the 

j 

Prince to the Page. In the King's pro-* 
gresses during the late Reign, the Court and 
its Followers committed many outrages of a 
very serious nature, in places where they 
lodged; such as extorting money from the 
hosts who entertained them, and abusing the 
chastity of women without restraint. But 
now the grievance was become much worse ; 
for Henry's Attendants, in his progresses, 
plundered every thing that came in their 
way; so that the country was laid waste 
wherever the King travelled ; for which 
reason people, when they knew of his ap- 
proach, left their houses, carrying away 
what provisions they could, and sheltering 
themselves in the woods and bye-places, 
for fear their provisions should be taken 
away by the King's Purveyors*. These 
things called loudly for redress : it was there- 
fore made public, by the King's command, 
that whoever, belonging to the Court, spoiled 

* Eadmer. 



32 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

any goods of those who entertained them in 
these progresses, or ahused the persons of 
their hosts, should, on proof, have their 
eyes put out, or their hands and feet cut off*. 
To us these seem cruel and unwarrantable 
punishments ; but it must be remembered 
that, at this day, punishments were not 
prescribed, but arbitrary ; there was no com- 
mon law, and but little statute-law, and no- 
thing to regulate the hand of Justice, which 
was directed by caprice, and the temper of 
the reigning King. Coiners of false money 
were grown so numerous and bare-faced, 
employed and even protected by the great 
men about the Court, that this kind of impo- 
sition on the publick became, among the rest, 
an object of redress, and the penalty in- 
flicted was the loss of eyes and genitals. 

Taking the whole together, one must con- 
clude that the profligacy, and wanton cruelty, 
of the King's Suite must have been very 
enormous, to have required punishments so 
repugnant to natural mercy; — but we can 

* Eadmer. 



HENRY I. 33 

but ill judge, at so distant a period, of the 
necessity there might be for such severity. 

The Kings, in these ages, moved their 
Court very frequently, and often to consi- 
derable distances ; and, as the state of the roads 
would not permit them to travel far in a day, 
they were forced to accommodate them- 
selves as well as they could at such houses 
as lay convenient, there being then no re- 
ceptacles of a public nature. These motions 
of so large a body of people, added to the 
frequency of them, were often, of themselves, 
very oppressive to the Yeomanry, who were 
obliged to supply the Court with carts and 
horses from place to place ; and the abuse 
the people sustained in this kind of Pur- 
veyance was the occasion of edicts afterward 
to restrain any from taking carriages from 
the subject, for this purpose, except by the 
persons authorized and appointed to the 
office, who were called the King's Cart- 
takers, a post which is now in being, though 
out of use. But, although the Court was not 
fixed in these times, yet the Kings generally 



34 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

kept the Feast of Christmas in one place*, 
according to their liking or convenience. 
The other Feasts they kept at different places, 

* Pro more, as the Monkish writers say : though 
Henry I. does not appear to have confined himself to 
keep the Feast of Christmas at one place. According 
to the Saxon Chronicle, William I. had stated places 
for each Feast ; and on these occasions the Kings 
wore their Crowns. " Ter gessit [Willielmus] suam 
Coronam singulis annis quoties esset in Anglia ; ad 
Pascha earn gessit in Winchester ; ad Pentecosten in 
Westminster; et ad Natales in Gloucester." Chronic. 
Saxon, p. 190. So before anno 1085 "Rex induta 
Corona tenuit Curiam in Winchester ad Pascha, atque 
ita Itinera instituit ut esset ad Pentecosten apud West- 
minster; ubi armis militaribus honoravit filium suum 
Henricum ;" p. 187. 

William Rufus was not so uniform. He sometimes 
held his Court at one, and sometimes at another; but 
for the most part the Easter-Court at Winchester, as 
his Father had done. At Whitsuntide 1099, he kept 
his Court for the first time in his new Hall at West- 
minster (Saxon Chronicle) ; for which purpose, I sup- 
pose, he built it. Henry I. was not regular in the 
places where he kept his Court, but it was held of- 
tener in Westminster Hall than any where else, per- 
haps on account of its novelty and convenience in 
point of magnitude, or for greater magnificence. The 



HENRY I. 35 

as it happened, they having Palaces almost at 
every considerable place in the Kingdom, 
viz. besides London and its environs, at 
York, at Gloucester, Winchester, Salisbury, 
Marlborough, Bath, Worcester, and many 
other places, too numerous to mention nomi- 
natim. The great Feasts (together with that 
of St. George, after the institution of the 
Order of the Garter,) were kept with great 
solemnity, even so late as the Reign of King 
.*....-. when the public observance of 
them was dropped by the King and Court. 

Henry was not wanting in splendour and 
magnificence on these occasions. Eadmerus, 
speaking of one of them, and more might be 
produced, says, " Rex Henricus [in Festi- 
vitate Pentecostes] curiam suam Lundoniae 

custom of wearing the Crown during the celebration 
of the great Festivals was much left off, however, 
after Henry II. It is said to have grown by degrees 
into disuse after Henry II. and his Queen, 1136, laid 
their Crowns on the Altar, after their third Coronation 
at Worcester, vowing they would never wear them 
again. What the occasion of this vow was, nobody 
has told us; and Lord Lyttelton does not even guess 
at the reason* 

d2 



36 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

in magnd mundi glorid, et diviti ap'paratu 
eelebravit" Wherever the King kept his 
Court, or indeed wherever he resided, there 
was, of course, the general resort of all the 
great men of the time, who brought with 
them, no doubt, large retinues ; and in so 
great a concourse it is no wonder there should 
be many disorderly and abandoned people, in 
spite of all edicts and penalties. 

Hitherto I have met with very little men- 
tion of any Officers of the Court or House- 
hold, In this Reign, however, we hear of 
William de Tankerville, whom Lord Lyt- 
Helton calls, " Henry's Great Chamberlain. 97 
The Annotator on M. Rapin calls him only 
Chamberlain-, and Matthew Paris, Came- 
rarius ; but this unquestionably means Trea- 
surer, or High Treasurer, and not the great 
Officer we now understand by the Chamber - 
lain, or the Great Chamberlain. The Latin 
term for these is Cambellanus, which Du 
Cange says, is — "diversus a Camerario, penes 
quern erat cura Camerce seu Thesauri Regii 
—Cambellano autem fuit cura Cubiculi*. 

* Du Canffe ? Gloss, in voce Cambellanm, 



HENRY I. 37 

We have the term Chamberlain, in the sense 
of Camerarius, still preserved in the City of 
London, where the Treasurer is called the 
Chamberlain, and the office the Chamber ; 
nnd indeed this Officer, of every Corporation, 
is, for the most part, called the Chamber* 
lain. In the account given by the Saxon 
Chronicle* of the persons who were so un* 
fortunately drowned with Prince William, 
King Henry's son, in returning from Nor- 
mandy, in the year 1120, it is said there pe- 
rished " quamplurimi de Regis familid, 
Dispensatoresf, Cubicularii^ Pincernce§, 
aliique Ministri;" indeed all who were on 

* P„ 222. 

f The Dispensatores should seem to be something 
like our Gentlemen of the Buttery, Pantry, &c. ; or 
such as delivered out provisions of various sorts in 
their several provinces. 

% The Cubicularii I have already supposed to mean 
the inferior Officers of the Bed-chamber. 

§ The Pincernce y Butlers,^" Pincerna, qui Vinum 
Convivis miscet ;" Da Cange in voce : and Pincernare t 
he says, is "Vinum praegustarepriusquam Principi pro- 
pinetur;" Idem in voce. So that it seems to be what 
we call A Yeoman of the Mouth. 



38 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD, 

board perished, except one man. These, it 
is supposed, were all menial and inferior 
Officers of the King's Household ; those of a 
higher rank, and who appertained to the 
King's person, probably being ou board the 
same ship with himself, 



STEPHEN. 

Stephen, at his accession, found in his 
Uncle's Treasury upwards of 100,000Z. * 
besides plate and jewels, the fruits of Henry's 
rapacity and oppression. As Stephen came 
in upon a doubtful title, the people were 
willing to take this opportunity of securing 
themselves against future usurpations and 
exactions ; and accordingly, after some de- 
bate about the succession, when Stephen 
was placed on the throne, they imposed a 
new oath upon their new King ; which im- 
ported, that he should fill the vacant Bishop- 
rics, that he should not seize the Woods 

* William of Malmesbur}' ; " Jistimabantur denarii 
r ^« ad centum millia libras," p. 179. 



STEPHEN. 39 

which belonged to private persons, upon fri- 
volous pretences, as his Predecessors had 
done ; but be content with the Forests which 
belonged to the two Williams, and make 
restitution of such as Henry had usurped. 
The Bishops, on the other hand, took a con- 
ditional oath, that they would pay allegiance 
no longer than he should continue to main- 
tain the privileges of the Church. All this, 
and more, Stephen afterwards confirmed by 
Charter ; but yet it tended only to amuse the 
people, till he was fully seated in his Throne, 
and felt himself a King ; for, not many 
months after the signing the Charter, wherein 
he particularly covenants not to meddle with 
vacant Bishoprics, do we find that, upon the 
death of the Archbishop, he seized the reve- 
nues of the See of Canterbury, and kept them 
in his hands above two years. It is true, he 
only followed the examples of his Preder 
cessors ; but with this aggravation, that 
Stephen had given the most sacred engage- 
ments that can be had between men, that he 
would not intermeddle with the revenues of 
the vacant Bishoprics, but that they should 



40 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

be sequestered in the hands of Ecclesiastics 
till the vacancy was filled. No wonder then 
that a King, with so little regard to every tie, 
however sacred, should soon be involved in 
tumultuous scenes of disaffection and revolt. 
To heal this wound, and to buy off the re- 
proaches of his subjects (of whose assistance 
he foresaw he should soon have occasion, in 
growing ruptures with neighbpuringPowers)^ 
he not only became lavish of titles and ho- 
nours, but alienated many of the Crown 
lands, to secure the interest of such as he 
thought might be serviceable to him. But 
this bounty had not the desired effect : some 
who accepted his favours thought them no 
more than their due ; others, who were 
passed by, became jealous, and thought them^ 
selves neglected, and soon shewed their re- 
sentment, which proved the source of the ap- 
proaching troubles. So difficult is it to regain 
the lost esteem of a brave and spirited people ! 
One very great error in the politics of the 
preceding three Kings was, heaping favours 
and honours on the Normans, to the exclu- 
sion of the English ; by which the affection 



STEPHEN. 41 

of the Natives was warped, the natural secu- 
rity of the Kingdom (the People) divided, 
and their hearts turned against the King and 
his Adherents. The filling the Court with 
Normans, and lavishing honours and estates 
amongst them, was weakening the attach- 
ment of the English to such a degree, that it 
became eventually out of the power of the 
latter to support the Royal Family when it 
wanted protection. Stephen, at his accession, 
had made large promises to the Barons, to 
engage them in support of his weak title to 
the Throne ; and had given them strong 
assurances that they should enjoy more pri- 
vileges and offices under him, than they had 
possessed in the Reigns of his Norman Pre- 
decessors. These promises (which, perhaps, 
were never intended to be performed) an- 
swered Stephen's end, by securing to him 
the Crown, and were the sole motive that 
induced the Barons to concur so warmly in 
his interest ; and the non -performance was 
the cause of the general revolt that happened 
in a few years. From the time of Stephen's 
accession, he had been perpetually reminded 



42 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

by his Courtiers of his large promises, which 
he was forced to parry by other still larger 
promises, and often by actual grants, to sa- 
tisfy those that were most importunate. 

Their private resentments were covered 
with public outside * ; but most Writers agree 
that this was only an ostensible excuse for an 
opportunity to gratify their revenge ; and 
that the true reasons of discontent were, that 
they did not receive rewards and emoluments 
equal to their expectations, and Stephen's 
promises, The greatest after-engagements 
that the King could devise were not, how- 
ever, sufficient to secure the allegiance of his 
Courtiers ; every one was grasping at the 
same posts, the same estates, the same ho- 
nours. Reason has little weight among such 
claimants ; and it is no wonder that the situa- 
tion of the parties should kindle a flame that 
should spread itself over the whole Kingdom. 

During so turbulent a period, it is not to be 
supposed that much attention should be paid 
to the interior regulation of the King's House 
or Household ; it was probably as much dis- 

* The breach of his oath to Matilda. 



STEPHEN. 43 

tracted as the rest of the Kingdom. The 
King beiqg obliged to fly about from place to 
place, as the exigency of affairs required, 
there was little time to study State and Mag- 
nificence in his Court. In the former part 
of Stephen's Reign his Court was extremely 
magnificent, exceeding that of his Prede- 
cessors. He held his Court at Easter, in the 
first year of his Reign, at London, which 
was the most splendid, in every respect, that 
had yet been seen in England *. One may 
judge a little of the hospitality of the Court 
in those days, by the manner of living among 
the Nobility : for at this time, and many 
ages after, the great halls of the castles or 
principal manor-houses of the Nobility and 
Gentry were crowded with vast numbers of 
their vassals and tenants, w r ho were daily fed 
at their cost. And in houses of inferior rank, 
upon occasions of feasting, the floor was 
strewed with flowers, and the jovial company 

* Qua nunquam fuerat splendidior in Anglid mul~ 
titudine, magnitudine, auro, argento, gemmis, Vesti- 
bus, omnimoda dapsilitate. 

Henry of Huntingdon, Lib.viii. 



44 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

drank wine out of gilded horns, and sang 
songs when they became inebriated with 
their liquor *. This custom of strewing the 
floor, in those days, was a part of the luxury 
of the times; and Becket, when he was Chan- 
cellor, in the next Reign, according to a con- 
temporary Author f , ordered his hall to be 
strewed every day, in the winter with fresh 
straw or hay, and in summer with rushes, or 
green leaves, fresh gathered ; and this reason 
is given for it, that such Knights as the 
benches could not contain might sit on the 
floor without dirtying their fine cloaths. But 
even this rustic simplicity w 7 as mixed with 
great magnificence in gold and silver plate J. 
This custom of strewing the rooms extended 
to the apartments of the Kings themselves 
in those days ; for in the time of Edward I. 
"Willielmus Alius Willielmi de Aylesbury 
tenet tres virgatas terrae . . . per serjeantiam 
inveniendi stramen ad straminandam came- 
ls Lord Lyttelton, from John of Salisbury. 
f Fitzstephen. 

X Idem. Vide Lord Lyttelton's Life of Henry II. 
yol. iii. p. 483. 



STEPHEN. 45 

ram Domini Regis in Hi/eme, et in ^Estate 
Herbam ad juncandam* cameram suamf." 
It may be observed, further, that there is a 
relique of this custom still subsisting ; for at 
Coronations the ground is strewed with 
flowers by a person who is upon the esta- 
blishment, called the Herh-strewer, with 
an annual salary. 

But the commotions of this Reign even 
put a stop to these meetings of the Court and 
Council J, and all Royal magnificence was 
broken down and defaced. Had it not been 
for the turbulency of the times, Stephen 
might doubtless have kept a very large House- 
hold, and a splendid Court ; for, added to the 
wealth he inherited with the Crown from his 
Predecessor, he had large revenues, derived 
from different sources ; viz. the demesnes of 
the Crown, escheats, feudal profits from the 
demesnes of others, fines, aids, and several 
others ; but the exigency of his affairs, and 

* Juncare is properly, to strew with rushes. 
t Blount's Jocular Tenures. 

X Jam quippe Curiae solennes, et ornatus Regii 
Schematis prorsus evanuerant. Annals of Waverly. 



46 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

the situation to which he was reduced with 
his Barons, obliged him to give largely, and 
at last to resume what he had before giveru. 
the price of the dissembled affection of his 
Courtiers. 

Stephen had liberality, and loved splen- 
dour; so that, had he lived in times more fa- 
vourable to it, he would, probably, have shone 
with great lustre in his Court and House- 
hold, if we may take the Court which attended 
him in his first year, and the magnificence 
there exhibited, for a specimen. 

King Stephen, being a Foreigner, and an 
Usurper, might not choose to ask Aids of the 
people of England, and it does not appear 
that he did. He had two sons, Eustace and 
William, both of whom lived to be married, 
and no doubt were Knights, which, accord- 
ing to the complexion of the times, every 
person of the least consequence was, though 
these Princes do not appear to have received 
that honour in England. King Stephen 
was unpopular; and being embroiled in do- 
mestic wars with his Cousin the Empress 
Maud, made no demands of aids of this sort 



STEPHEN. 47 

of which we are speaking. His two elder 
Sons died in his life-time; and his third, 
William, was by Henry II. restored to his 
titles of Earl of Bolleigne, Surrey, and Mor- 
taine ; and dying without issue, was succeeded 
by his sister Mary, who, after having been 
Abbess of Ramsey, was married to the se- 
cond son of Theodoric, Earl of Flanders, 
who, in her right, was Earl of Bolleigne. 

King Stephen, during the internal dis- 
quietudes in the Kingdom, was taken pri- 
soner by Maud, the Empress, and after- 
wards released at the suit of his Son Eustace. 
It is not said that any sum of money was paid 
on the occasion, and indeed it will admit of 
a question whether the Norman aid, allowed 
for ransom of the King's Person if taken 
prisoner, would extend to such a domestic 
war. The Kingdom was divided ; and the 
Title to the Crown suspended, and in such 
an unquiet hour, it was difficult for the Na- 
tion at large to refuse or comply. 



43 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 



HENRY II. (Plantagenet.) 

Henry at his Accession found himself so 
contracted in his Royal Revenues, by the 
imprudence of his immediate Predecessor, 
Stephen, that some spirited measures became 
necessary, to enable him to support his dig- 
nity equal to the Sovereign of a great King- 
dom, and his own wishes. 

Henry soon saw that the resumption of 
several grants made by Stephen was abso- 
lutely necessary ; and these having been con- 
ferred on great and powerful men, the mea- 
sure must be conducted with firmness and 
delicacy. In a Treaty made at Winchester, 
after the close of the Civil Commotions in 
the late Reign, after Stephen had contented 
himself that Henry, then Duke of Nor- 
mandy, should assume the Rights and Power 
of a King, reserving to himself only the 
Image of the Royal Dignity, it was sti- 
pulated, inter alia, by a separate and secret 
article, that the King (Stephen) " should 
resume what had been alienated to the No- 

* Lord Lyttelton. 



HENRY II. 49 

bles, or usurped by them, of the Royal De- 
mesne *.-.; ' This article was limited to what- 
ever lands or possessions had belonged to 
the Crown at the death of King Henry I. ; 
all which were to be restored, except those 
that Stephen had granted to William his 
Son, or had bestowed on the Church. Among 
these resumable gifts were some made by 
Matilda; for she too, acting as Sovereign, 
had followed Stephen's example, in giving 
away certain parts of the Estate of the 
Crown, to reward her adherents. Add to 
these, much that had been usurped by the 
Barons of both Parties, without any warrant, 
by the licence of the times, on unjustifiable 
pretences*. No article of the Treaty of 
Winchester was more necessary to be ful- 
filled than a resumption of all these aliena- 
tions, which had been neglected by Stephen, 
indigent as he was; for, had this not been 
now executed, Henry would have been little 
better than Stephen, a Sovereign without a 
Royal Revenue — "Rex et preterea nihil." — 
His power would soon have vanished; and the 

* Lord Lyttelton. 
E 



50 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

Barons, having usurped the Crown Lands, 
Would very soon have contended for the So- 
vereign Power : and had not Henry exerted 
the spirit and conduct which he soon shewed, 
it is more than probable the Government of 
the Kingdom at this period had sunk into an 
Aristocracy. Henry, therefore, as soon as he 
was well and fully confirmed on the Throne, 
set about the execution of this secret article 
of the Treaty of Winchester, relating to the 
alienated lands, which Stephen had neglected. 
The necessity of this measure, however ar- 
duous and disagreeable in itself, appeared 
in the most glaring colours to Henry; for 
Stephen's extravagance, and the insatiable 
demands of his faction, had induced him to 
alienate so much of the ancient Demesne of 
the Crown, that the remaining Estate was 
not (as has been said) sufficient to maintain 
the Royal Dignity. Royal Cities, and Forts 
of great consequence, had been also granted 
away, which could not be suffered to con- 
tinue in the hands of the Nobles, without 
endangering the peace of the Kingdom. 
Policy and Law concurred in demanding these 
concessions back again. The Antient De- 



HENRY II. 51 

mesne of the Crown was held so very sacred, 
and so inalienable, that no length of time 
could give a right of prescription to any other 
possessors, even by virtue of grants from the 
Crown, against the claim of succeeding 
Princes *. William Rufus made grants, and 
revoked them at pleasure, to supply his ex- 
travagance and ridiculous humour. This was 
base and unmanly. Henry's resumptions nei- 
ther impeached his generosity nor his justice. 
The grants he reclaimed were such as sound 
policy and the exigencies of the State de- 
manded, being made by a weak Prince in 
embarrassed situations ; as they were all of 
no earlier date than the Reign of King Ste- 
phen, and had not been transmitted down 
through several generations. Foreseeing, 
however, that this step would raise much 
discontent in those who were to be affected 
by it, who were numerous and powerful, 
Henry was cautious not to act without a legal 
sanction, and the approbation of his Council. 
He therefore summoned a Parliament, wherein 
almost all his Nobles were present ; and hav- 
ing properly laid before them the wants of 

* Lord Lyttelton. 
E 2 



52 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

the Crown, the losses it had suffered, the 
illegality of the grants, and the urgent ne- 
cessity of a speedy resumption; obtained 
their concurrence to it, and proceeded to put 
it into immediate execution. The vigour of 
his government was such, that he met with 
less opposition than he had reason to expect ; 
very near all that had been granted to Lay- 
men, or usurped by them, from the Royal 
Demesne, was surrendered to him without 
bloodshed, after a little delay, and some in- 
effectual marks of reluctance in a few of the 
greatest Barons*. The cause assigned for 
these resumptions was not a defect in the 
title of the grantor, nor any un worthiness in 
the grantee, but the apparent and indis- 
pensable necessity of recovering the just and 
inseparable Rights of the Crown. No dis- 
tinction was made between the grants of Ste- 
phen and Matilda ; for that would have car- 
ried an appearance of Henry's acting from 
motives, not of Royal economy and public 
expediency, but of party revenge ; and by 
this equal and impartial proceeding, he left 
the adherents of Stephen no reason to com- 

* Lord Lyttelton 



HENRY II. 53 

plain. In the course of this business, how- 
ever, Henry was once very near losing his 
life ; for Roger de Mortimer would not sub- 
mit, which obliged Henry, incensed by his 
obstinacy, to lead an army against him, with 
which he assaulted, among others, the castle 
of Bridgnorth, in Shropshire, which was 
defended by Mortimer himself. Henry com- 
manded in person, and exposed himself to 
so much danger, that he would have been 
infallibly slain, if a faithful vassal (Hubert 
de St. Clare *) who stood by his side, had 
not preferred the King's life to his own ; for, 
seeing an arrow aimed at Henry by one of 
Mortimer's archers, he stepped before him, 
and received it in his own breast. The wound 
proved mortal, and he expired in Henry's 
arms; recommending his daughter, an only 
child, and an infant, to the care of that 
Prince f. It is hard to say which deserves 
the most admiration (continues my Noble 

* Constable or Governor of Colchester Castle. 

f The daughter was educated by Henry with all 
the affection he owed to the memory of her father, 
and was afterwards married to a Nobleman of great 
distinction. 



54 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

Author*) a subject who died to save his 
King, or a King whose personal virtues 
could render his safety so dear to a subject 
whom he had not obliged by any extraordi- 
nary favours f. 

Henry, now firmly seated on his Throne, 
possessed of an ample Royal Revenue, con- 
firmed the Charter of his Grandfather, 
Henry I; but, not content only to restore 
good Laws, he enforced a due execution of 
them. This Reign is so pregnant with in- 
teresting events, and shining transactions of 
a public nature, that it is no wonder His- 
torians are silent as to lesser matters, such 
as the internal direction of his Court ; but 
there is, I think, little question to be made 
but that it was magnificent ; and as England 
became in his Reign one of the most power- 

* Lord Lyttelton. 

t A very similar circumstance happened in our 
times in Poland. The King, anno 1771, being shot 
at with arrows by the Regicides, H. Butzau, a Hussar, 
interposed, and received the arrows in his own breast, 
of which wounds he died. The King erected a monu- 
ment (1773) to his memory. See the public prints of 
the years 1771 and 1773. 



HENRY II. 55 

ful States in Europe, one would infer that his 
Court was likewise equal (at least) to any 
other in dignity and splendour. He enter- 
tained at one time, in his Palace at West- 
minster, the several Ambassadors of Manuel, 
Emperor of Constantinople ; of Frederic, 
Emperor of the Romans ; of William, Arch- 
bishop of Triers ; of the Duke of Saxony ; 
and of Philip, Earl of Flanders : an uncom- 
mon resort in these days, who, doubtless, 
were attracted by the power of the King, 
and both received from, and added, lustre 
to the brilliancy and magnificence of his 
Court *; 

Lord Lyttelton, after giving an account 
of his person and temper, speaking of his 
munificence, says, he assigned the tenth part 
of the Provisions of his Household to be con- 
stantly given in daily alms to the poor; which 
one must imagine to have been a very consi- 
derable donation, considering the hospitable 
manner of living in those days. " His own 
table (continues his Lordship) was frugal, 
his diet plain, and in his dress he affected the 

* Speed, p. 519. 



56 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

utmost simplicity, disliking all ornaments 
which might encumber him in his exercise, 
or shew an effeminate regard to his person." 
He introduced the Angevin fashion of wear- 
ing short cloaks or mantles (contrary to the 
mode that prevailed in William Rufus's 
Reign), which he himself had worn from his 
childhood, and from which he obtained the 
sobriquet, or nick -name, of Court- Mantle *. 
In this he would soon be followed by his 
Court, and the People ; for it is every day 
seen how fast the fashions of the Great 
descend into the remotest parts of the King- 
dom. Lord Lyttelton, however, observes, 
that the long garments introduced temp. 
Will. Rufus, were not wholly laid aside ; so 
that Henry's fashion did not prevail univer- 
sally -\. The use of silk made by silk- 
worms (the Bombycind) was brought hither 
from Sicily about this time ; there was also a 

* i.e. Short Mantle. — "Ab Infantia vocabatur Hen- 
ricus Curtmantell, nam iste primus omnium carta man- 
tella ab Andegavia (Anjou) in Angliam transvexit." 
Brompton, p. 1150. 

f Vide note to vol. iii. octavo. 



HENRY II. 57 

costly stuff at this day in great request here, 
called in Latin Aurifrisium. What it was 
called in English, Mr. Camden declares him- 
self ignorant * ; but supposes it not to mean 
Embroidery, although, by other testimonies, 
that was much worn by the Nobility, and was 
termed in Latin Opera Phrigia, and the 
corruption seems very easy and allowable. 
" Whatever it was/' says he, u it was much 
desired by the Popes, and highly esteemed 
in Italy." 

Hitherto I have not been able to learn any 
thing concerning Henry's Household, or the 
internal disposition of his Family. He ap- 
pears himself to have lived in a great degree 
of familiarity with his Courtiers, whom he 
honoured with his intimacy ; and would fre- 
quently unbend, and lay aside the King, and 
was fond of the desipere in loco. But " his 
good humour and jocularity/' says Lord Lyt- 
telton, " seems to have been sometimes too 
playful in the eye of the public; and to 
have carried him into things that were infra 

* Camden's Remains, p. 194. 



58 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

dignitatem # ." In a note on this passage, 
his Lordship gives a pleasant story, which I 
shall relate, to relieve the Reader, and cer- 
tainly cannot do it better than in his Lord- 
ship's own words, from Fitz-Stephen's Life 
of Archbishop Becket. " As the King and 
Becket, his Chancellor f, were riding to- 
gether through the streets of London, in cold 
and stormy weather, the King saw, coming 
towards them, a poor old man, in a thin 
coat, worn to tatters. Would it not be a 
great charity (said he to the Chancellor) to 
give this naked wretch, who is so needy and 
infirm, a good warm cloak ? Certainly, an- 
swered that Minister ; and you do the duty of 
a King, in turning your eyes and thoughts to 
such objects. While they were thus talking, 
the man came near ; the King asked him if 
he wished to have a good cloak ? and, turn- 
ing to the Chancellor, said,— You shall have 
the merit of this good deed of charity ; then 
suddenly laying hold on a fine new scarlet 
cloak, lined with fur, which Becket had on> 

* Life of Henry II. vol. iii. p. 40. 
t He was not then Archbishop. 



HENRY II. 59 

he tried to pull it from him, and, after some 
struggle, in which they had both like to have 
fallen from their horses, prevailed. The poor 
man had the cloak, and the Courtiers laughed, 
like good Courtiers, at the pleasantry of the 
King*/' 

King Henry II. in the early part of his 
life, was in a very doubtful situation with re- 
gard to his accession to the Crown of Eng- 
land, which depended upon the success of 
his Mother, the Empress, against the Usurper, 
King Stephen. As soon, however, as he at- 
tained his sixteenth year, A. D. 1149, he 
came over into England; and at Carlisle, 
where his Great Uncle David, King of Scots, 
then lay, was by him made a Knight, among 
several others of equal age, at the feast of 
Pentecost f 9 and for which no Aid could be 
demanded. 

His issue, which is all that concerns the 
matter before us, consisted of four Sons : 
Henry, Richard, Geoffrey, and John; and 
three Daughters, Maud, Alianor, and Joan. 

* Life of Henry II. vol. iii. p. 311. 

t Gervas. Dorob. inter Decern Scriptores, col. 1366. 



60 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

It is difficult, in a Reign where the sub- 
jects were so loaded with taxations of every 
kind, and so generally and indiscriminately 
imposed, to separate any particular charge 
from the aggregate. Henry was a Prince 
that would not forego his rights and privi- 
leges ; and, as his Children were all natives 
of England, would doubtless avail himself 
of such laws and indulgences as he found 
established, and as would operate in his 
favour on their account. It does not appear, 
upon the face of common history, that any 
Aid was paid for the Knighthood of his 
eldest Son, though I have not the least doubt 
but that it was comprehended in some of 
those numerous subsidies, tallages, &c. which 
he levied, from time to time, on his sub- 
jects, for his transfretations (to use a Monk- 
ish word) into foreign parts. There is some 
ground for the surmise that the charge might 
be enveloped in some of those exactions ; for, 
though there was a national contribution or 
A.id demanded for the marriage of one of his 
daughters, yet it does not transpire but in a 
general Inquisition for the purpose of dis- 



HENRY K. 61 

covering what monies had been received, in 
every County, by the Sheriffs, &c. This was 
effected by Itinerant Justices, who were dis- 
patched over the whole Kingdom ; and, 
among other articles contained in their ge- 
neral commission, they were directed to in- 
quire — " concerning the JLid to marry the 
King's Daughter, what was received in 
every hundred, in every township, and of 
every man, and who received it*." This 
took place in the year 1170, in the sixteenth 
year of the King's Reign. 

With regard to this King's transfretations, 
as I have called them, he was not contented 
with mere feudal contributions in lieu of per- 
sonal service ; but, upon a rupture with 
France, respecting settlements upon an in- 
tended marriage between two Sons of Henry 
(Henry, the then eldest, and Richard, the 
then second Son) with two Daughters of 
France; the King commanded all his Tenants 
in capite, Earls, Barons, and Knights, to at- 
tend him in person, properly prepared with 

* From Brady's History, p. 309, who cites Gervas. 
Dorob. col. 1410. 



62 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

horse and arms, who were to serve a whole 
year in Normandy at their own charge *. 

To conclude all I have to observe upon the 
subject of exactions towards the King's ex- 
pences in foreign wars, when he passed 
outre-mer ; I can but remark one, which fell 
not a little heavy on the subject, imputable 
indeed to the religious frenzy of the times, 
which was occasioned by a joint resolution of 
Henry of England and Philip of France 
to go to the relief of Jerusalem, in what is 
known by the name of the Holy War. These 
levies were made in the most oppressive 
manner ; every one who did not go in per- 
son being taxed to the extent of his pro- 
perty real and personal ; and this was not 
called an Aid, a Subsidy, or a Tallage, but 
(forsooth !) an Alms f . It ought not to 
be forgotten that those who did go, whether 
Clerk orLaym an, were to have a free pardon 
of all sins repented of; and their securities 
were God, St. Peter, St. Paul, and the Pope J. 

* Brady, 330; A. D. 1177. 

f Consult Brady, who gives authorities, p. 344. 

X Ibid. 



63 



RICHARD I. 

The following Reign is too full of the 
business of the Holy War, with which 
Richard was, tibove all men, most infatuated, 
to afford much matter for our purpose. 
Henry had, by the good government and di- 
rection of his revenues, left behind him great 
treasures ; but these, or ten times as much, 
would not answer the purpose of his Suc- 
cessor, who ransacked every corner of his 
Kingdom for money to carry on this work of 
zeal, which had seized all Christendom, 
whereby Richard, on the Throne of a great 
and opulent Kingdom, thought he saw so 
fair a prospect of reaping honour and renown. 

Henry left in his treasury at Winchester 
more than nine hundred thousand pounds *, 
besides jewels, and other valuable things -J- ; 
but this would go but a very little way to- 
wards recovering Jerusalem, which had been 

* " Numero et Pondere." Brompton. 
f " Proeter Utensilia, et Jocalia, et Lapides pre- 
tiosos," Matthew Paris. 



64 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

taken, and was now in the hands of the 
Saracens. Before the death of Henry, Rich- 
ard had bound himself in a vow to Philip of 
France, to join in this undertaking; and 
every one, ad Regis exemplmn, strove either 
to go in person, or to supply money towards 
the expence of the expedition. Nothing, 
however sacred, could withstand Richard, in 
his schemes to raise money for this purpose. 
Most of the Crown lands which Henry had, 
with so much prudence and address, but a 
few years before, recovered out of private 
hands, and annexed to the State, were again 
put up to public sale, to be purchased by 
such as were able. Every expedient was de- 
vised, to create a fund for this enterprize ; and 
among the rest, he obtained of the Pope a 
power to dispense with the vows of such who 
had rashly engaged in the Crusade, by which 
he raised very large sums. The Bishop of 
Norwich paid him 1000 marks, to be excused. 
Where he could, he borrowed; and where 
he could not borrow, he compelled. The 
people murmured at his oppression, and the 
alienation of the estates of the Crown ; but 



RICHARD I. 65 

Richard told them, he would sell London it* 
self, if he could meet with a purchaser. So 
great, however, was the general infatuation, 
that he had less difficulty in raising men than 
money. The Clergy laboured as zealously to 
procure him soldiers, as he himself had been 
active in raising subsidies; his army soon 
became very numerous, and at a cheap rate, 
for every officer and private soldier pro- 
vided himself with necessaries. One would 
think the great wealth that Richard had 
amassed would have answered all his pur- 
poses ; but in a few years after, he had oc- 
casion for fresh supplies, to carry on a war 
with Philip of France ; not to mention the 
ransom which was paid for his release, on 
his being taken prisoner by the Emperor 
Henry, amounting to 150,000 marks, which 
were raised for the occasion by his subjects in 
England. Philip of France had so mal- 
treated Richard, by leaguing himself with his 
Brother John, and bribing the Emperor to 
detain him prisoner, that, as soon as Richard 
returned home, he could no longer deny him- 
self the satisfaction of revenge. His King- 

F 



66 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

dom was already drained, and little able to 
furnish out supplies for a war with France ; 
but Richard was resolved, and money must 
be had at any rate, let the means be ever so 
dishonourable. For this purpose he revoked 
all the grants of the Crown lands, which he 
had made before his expedition to Palestine. 
The pretext for this was, that the purchasers 
had enjoyed them long enough to re-imburse 
themselves out of the profits, and therefore 
he did them no injury by taking the lands 
back again. This was one device; the next 
was, to avail himself of the loss of the Great 
Seal, by ordering a new one to be made; and 
obliged all who had commissions under the 
old one, to renew them, and have them re- 
sealed, by which he must have raised a con- 
siderable sum *. 

* In passing between Cyprus and Rhodes, in his 
Expedition to the Holy War, three of his Ships were 
lost, and among other persons that perished was the 
Vice- Chancellor, who had the Great Seal in his cus- 
tody, and was afterwards found with it about his neck. 
Brompton. This was the manner in which the Seal 
was formerly carried by the Chancellor himself — " circa 
cujus Collwrn suspension Regis Sigillum postea reper- 
tum est," are Brompton's words. 



RICHARD I. 67 

King Richard I. having no child of either 
sex, there was not an opening for demanding 
the two common Aids ; but the third, in the 
order they are usually placed, viz. for the 
ransom of the King's Person, was exer- 
cised for the first time in this Reign. Other 
taxations, heavy and enormous, on frivolous 
and nugatofy occasions, not to our imme- 
diate purpose, were copiously extorted from 
the subject, and even in a shameful manner # . 
If ever the Latin adage, " Quicquid delirant 
Reges," &c. could be properly applied, it be- 
longed to Richard. 

The favourite system of this King was the 
Holy -War, and his intemperate zeal led to 
the point before us. Failing in the attempt 
to recover Jerusalem from the Saracens, he 
concluded a truce of three years with Saladan 
their King; and, on his return towards Eng- 
land through Germany, was made prisoner 
by the Arch-duke of Austria (upon a pretext 
that he had tilled the Margrave Conrade at 
Tyre) ; who delivered him into the hands of 

* Sir Richard Baker, p. 73. 

f2 



68 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

the Emperor, where he remained a captive 
full fifteen months, till he was ransomed*. 

The sum demanded for the King's release 
is generally allowed to have been 100,000?.; 
though some writers reduce it a third part, 
and call it 100,000 marks ; but, let it be 
either of them, it was, in those days, a sum 
not to be raised without the greatest extor- 
tion ; and I am justified in saying, it was 
not done without what, eventually, almost 
amounted to sacrilege °\. The church was 
ransacked for plate, which was pretended to 
have been only borrowed for the moment — 
but the debt was never repaid. 



HENRY IV. 

In the eleventh year of King Henry IV. a 
certain portion of the customs in the several 
ports, of subsidies in several ports, of the 

* Consult the Monkish Historians. 

f Sir Richard Baker reckons this no more than a 
voluntary contribution, forgetting that it was one of 
the established Norman Feudal Aids, though now first 
brought forward since the Conquest, 



HENRY IV. EDWARD IV. 69 

issues of the hamper [now the Hanaper], and 
of the profers [sic] of escheators and sheriffs, 
were, by the King's letters patent, set apart 
for the expences of his Household. This w r as 
done by the assent of the Lords Spiritual 
and Temporal, assembled in the King's 
Council *. 



EDWARD IV. 

In the Reign also of King Edward IV. 
it was usual for the King to grant to his 
servants, or ministers, assignments for their 
salaries, or debts, upon divers officers who 
were concerned in receiving his revenue; viz. 
upon Sheriffs of Counties, Bailiffs, or Men 
[forte Mayors] of Towns, Collectors of Cus- 
toms, Subsidies, &c. Upon these assign- 
ments the Assignees had Patent- Letters, Tal- 
lies of the Exchequer, or Writs of Liberate 
currant, made forth for their avail ; and, in 
default of payment, they brought actions of 
debt in the Court of Exchequer, upon such 

* Rymer's Foedera, torn. viii. p. 6t0. — From Ma- 
dox'sMSS. n. 4486, p. 70. 



70 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

Assignments, Tallies, or Liberates, against 
the Sheriffs, or other Officers aforesaid ; 
many instances of which may be seen in the 
fifth year of King Edward IV. in the Placita 
coram Baronibus, 5 Edward IV. in the Rolls 
of the Exchequer *. 

The King was wont to distribute his re- 
venue in such manner as he thought fit. He 
assigned, at his pleasure, part of it to the 
expences of his Household, and other parts 
to the expences of either civil government or 
warf. 

An act done within the verge of the King's 
Palace was said to be done in prcesentid 
Regis. The party offending was tried in the 
Court held in the Palace, before the Ste- 
ward and Marshal; and the proceedings 
there, were styled Placita Aulce Domini Re- 
gis de Corona %. 

* Madox's MSS. n. 4486, p. 71. 

t Idem, p. 69. 

1 Idem, pp. 22, 23. 



71 



EXTRACTS 

FROM THE 

LIBER NIGER. 

The Liber Niger Domus Regis Angliae * 
[i. e. Edward IV.] contains Orders for his 
said Majesty's Household, anno 1478 ; and 
relates to the following Officers : 

A Chamberlain. 

Bannerets, or Bachelor Knights, to be 
Carvers and Cup-bearers (four). 

Knights of Household (twelve) to do the 
Office of Ewerers. 

A Secretary. 

Chaplains (four). 

Esquires for the Body (four). 

A Sewer for the King. 

Surveyor for the King, i. e. of the Dresser. 

Wardrobe. 

Gentlemen Ushers of Chamber (four). 

Yeomen of the Crown (twenty-four). 

* Harleian MSS. in the British Museum, N° 369, 
corrected by N° 642. 



J2 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

Yeomen of Chamber (four). 

Wardrobe of Robes. 

Wardrobe of Beds. 

Grooms of Chamber (ten). 

Pages of Chamber (four). 

Jewel-house. 

Doctor of Physic. 

Master Surgeon. 

Apothecary. 

Barber. 

Henxmen. Six Infants. 

Master of the Henchmen. 

Squires of Household. 

Kings of Arms, Heralds, and Pursuivants. 

Serjeants at Arms (four). 

Minstrels (thirteen). 

A Wayte. N. B. This Yeoman (for such 
was his rank) waiteth (i. e. playeth, I 
suppose) at the making of Knights of 
the Bath, watching upon them by night- 
time in the Chapel. Wherefore he hath 
of fee all the watching cloathing that 
the Knights should wear upon [them.] 

Messagers (four). 

Dean of the Chapel. 



OFFICERS. 73 

Chaplains, and Clerks of the Chapel 

(twenty-six). 
Yeomen of the Chapel (two). 
Children of the Chapel (eight). 
Clerk of the Closet. 
Master of Grammar, to teach the Henx- 

men and Children of the Chapel. 
Office of Vestiary, i. e. Vestry. 
Clerk of Crown in Chancery. 
Clerk of the Market. 
Clerk of the Works. 
Marriage of Wards. 
Steward of Household. 
Treasurer of Household. 
Controller of Household. 
Cofferer. 
Clerks of Green Cloth. 



EXTRACTS from the LIBER NIGER. 

Knights and Esquires of the Body. 

Item, that all Knights for the Body, Cup- 
Bearers, and Knight Carvers, Squires for the 
Body, &c. be put to their attendance, and a 



74 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

book thereof delivered from the King's High- 
ness into the eompting-house, for a quarter 
of a year ; the quarters to begin at October, 
January, April, and July. 

Among the provisions, it is said 
Knights of the Body, Carvers, and Cup- 
Bearers, [may have] every of them, two 
Yeomen sitting in the hall; and for their 
livery at night, one loaf and an half, and a 
gallon of ale ; one talshed and an half, and 
three sizes of white lights *. 

Gentleman Usher. 

Item, that the Marshall, ne Usher of the 
Chamber, send his rod by any mean person 
or persons, to pantry, buttery, or cellar, 
spicery, chaundry, or any other office ; but 
go in his own person. But if he be occu- 
pied, so that he may not, then he send such 
one with his rod, as he will answer for on the 
morrow, and also that he will breve for, upon 
pain of six days wages. 

* By white lights I understand tallow candles, they 
being so distinguished from wax in other places : 
which last, I presume, at that time were yellow* 



GENTLEMAN USHER. 7^ 

Item, that weekly there be warned and ap- 
pointed by the Huishiers [Ushers] of the 
Chamber, [those] who shall attend and 
serve the King for the week next following, 
that is to say, Carvers, Sewers, Cup-Bearers, 
Squires for the Body, and others. 

Item, that every Lord, Knight, and Es- 
quire, as well Squire for the Body, as other 
within the Household, wear daily a collar of 
the King's livery about their nehket (sic) as 
to them appertaineth, and that none of the 
said Squires fail hereof, upon pain of losing a 
week's wages. 

Item, that the liveries for All-night, for 
the King and Queen be set by day-light, 
from Candlemas to Michaelmas ; and in the 
winter time, to eight of the clock at farthest. 
Item, after the King and Queen's liveries 
delivered as aforesaid, no officer abide in his 
office, nor resort unto his said office after 
his departing, without a special command- 
ment of the King or of the Queen ; or else 
by special token from the Steward of the 
Household, or from the King or Queen's 
Chamberlains. 



/6 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

Punishment for neglect of Duty. 

For the first offence, the party to be 
warned to amend. 

For the second offence, imprisonment at 
the discretion of his Superior. 

And for the third offence, a discharge from 
his office *. 

Great Chamberlain of England, 

cometh to this Court at the six principal 
feasts of the year ; takes such livery and ser- 
vice after the estate he is of; and for his win- 
ter and summer robes, for the feasts of Christ- 
mas and Whitsuntide, to be taken of the 
counting-house by even portions, ten pounds 
thirteen shillings and four pence ; and for his 
fee of the King's Household, at the two 
terms of Easter and Michaelmas, by even 
portions, twenty marks in the counting- 
house. 

* In the time of Henry the Eighth (as in some 
cases in these Orders) they used stoppages of wages 
in lieu of imprisonment. This was called checquing. 
Hence, I apprehend, the office of a Clerk of the 
Cheque. 



77 



Knights of Household *. 

Twelve Bachelors, sufficient and most va- 
liant men of that order, of every Country, 
and more in number if it please the King, 
whereof four to be continually abiding and 
attending upon the King's Person in Court, 
beside the Carvers abovesaid, for to serve the 
King of his bason, or such other service as 
they may do the King, in absence of the 
Carvers, sitting in the King's Chamber and 
Hall with persons of like service ; every of 
them have eating in the hall one Yeoman, 
and taking for his chamber, at noon and 
night, one loaf, one quart of wine, one gal- 
lon of ale, one pitcher of wine, one candle 
wax, two candles pis, one tallwood and an 
half, for winter livery, from All-Hallowen- 
tide till Easter : rushes and litter all the year, 
of the Serjeant Usher, and for keeping of their 
stuff and Chamber, and to purvey for their 
stuff. Also at their livery in the Country, 
amongst them all, four Yeomen, after time 

* Of this Office, and that of the Esquires of the 
Body, see Mr. Pegge's Curialia, Part f. 



78 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

eight of these Knights be departed from 
Court, and the four Yeomen to eat daily in 
the hall with Chamberlains, till their said 
Masters come again ; so that the number of 
Knights' servants be not increased when 
their Masters be present. Every Knight 
shall have into this Court resorting, three 
persons, Waiters ; the remanent of their ser- 
vants to be at their livery in the Country, 
within seven miles to [of J the King, by the 
Herbergers sufficiently lodged; and, if it may 
be, two Knights together. Also they pay, 
in this Court, for the carriage of their own 
stuff. And if a Knight take clothing, it is 
by warrant made to the King's Wardrober, 
and not of the Treasurer of Household. Some 
time Knights took a fee here yearly, of ten 
marks, and clothing; but because* their 
clothing is not according for the King's 
Knights, therefore it was left. 

Item, if he be sick, or specially let blood, 
or clystered, then he taketh livery, four 
loaves, two mess of great meat and roast, 
half a pitcher of wine, two gallons of ale. 

* N° 369 reads Ray Clothing. 



KNIGHTS OF HOUSEHOLD. *J9 

This letting blood, or clystering, is to avoid 
pestilence ; and therefore the people take 
livery out of the Court, and not for every sick- 
ness in man continuing in this Court. 

Esquires for the Body. 

Four Noble, of condition, whereof always 
two be attendant on the King's person, to 
array him, and unarray him ; watch day and 
night ; and to dress him in his cloaths. 
And thev be callers to the Chamberlaine, if 
any thing lack for his person or pleasance. 
Their business is in many secrets, some sit- 
ting in the King's chamber, some in the 
hall with persons of like service, which is 
called Knight's service. Taking, every of 
them, for his livery at night, half a chet 
loaf, one quart of wine, one gallon of ale; 
and for winter livery, from All- Hallo wtide 
till Easter, one percher wax, one candle wax 5 
two candles pric. * one talshide and an half, 
and wages in the compting-house. If he be 
present in the Court daily, seven -pence half- 
penny ; and cloathing with the Household, 

* Forte Prickets. 



80 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

winter and summer, or else forty shillings, 
besides his other fee of the Jewel-house, or 
of the Treasurer of England ; and besides 
his watching cloathing of Chamber of the 
King's Wardrobe. He hath, abiding in this 
Court, but two servants ; livery sufficient for 
his horses in the country, by the Herberger. 
And if any Esquire be let blood, or else fore- 
watched, he shall have like livery w 7 ith 
Knights. Litter and rushes all the vear, of 
the Serjeant Usher of the Hall and Chamber. 
Oftentimes these stand instead of Carvers and 
Cup-bearers. 



In the " Statutes of Eltham" 

Esquires of the Body, every of them, to 
have ordinary within the Court four persons, 
of the which to have sitting in the Hall two 
persons, and the residue ut supra [i. e. to 
have no meat or drink within the House, but 
to be at board wages in the town] ; and for 
their bouche of Court, every of them to have 
for their livery at night, one chet loaf, half a 
pitcher of wine, and one gallon of ale, one 



ESQUIRES OF THE BODY. 81 

size wax, three white lights, two talsheds, 
and two faggots. 

In the appointment of Herbagage be 
ordinary for all Noble Estates, and others, 
for stabling of their horses, and beds for their 
servants, appointed by the King's Highness, 
at his Manor of Eltham, the 19th of Ja- 
nuary, in the 17th year of his Noble Reign. 

It is appointed to Knights for the Body, 
and other Knights, six horses and two beds. 

To every Esquire for the Body,^ye horses 
and two beds. 

[N. B. Every Gentleman Usher of the 
Privy Chamber, whereof six, six horses and 
two beds. 

Every Groom of the Privy Chamber, two 
horses and two beds. 

Every Gentleman Usher Daily Waiter^ 
three horses and one bed. 

Every Gentleman Usher of the Privy 
Chamber, four horses and one bed *.~j 

For the good order of the King's Cham- 

* Sic: but query if not Gentlemen of the Privy 
Chamber ; they not being otherwise mentioned in 
either copy. 

G 



82 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

ber, it is said, the Pages of the King's Cham- 
ber must daily arise at seven o'clock, or soon 
after, and make a fire ; and warn the Esquires 
of the Body of that hour, to the intent they 
may then arise, so as they may be ready, and 
the King's Chamber dressed in every thing 
as appertaineth, by eight of the clock at the 
farthest. 

Item, that none of the servants of the said 
Esquires come within the Pallet Chamber; 
but be attendant at the door, as well at night 
as in the morning, with such gear as their 
Masters shall wear. And the said Pages, at 
the request of the said Esquires, to fetch in, 
and bear out, their night-gear, and all other 
their apparel, and likewise to make them 
ready, both at night and in the morning. 

Item, that, if the Esquires for the Body do 
not arise at the warning of the Pages, so as 
the King's Chamber may be ready and 
dressed by the hour afore limited ; that then 
immediately the Pages are to shew the same 
to the Lord Chamberlain. 

[In the appointment of Lodgings, is a 
chamber for the six Gentlemen and Ushers 



ESQUIRES OF THE BODY. 83 

of the Privy Chamber, to sup in ; which ex- 
plains the above article.] 

The Esquires for the Body, mentioned to 
have been at Eltham at that time, were, Sir 
Arthur Poole, Sir Edward Bay n ton, Sir 
Humphrey Forster, and [Mr.] Francis Pointz. 



In the New Book of the King's House- 
hold of Edward IV. anno 1478 : 

Six Knights and five Squires appear to 
have been on duty for eight weeks from the 
last day of October, at the end of which they 
were relieved hy Jive Knights and four Es- 
quires. Sir Roger Ray, being Vice Cham- 
berlain, was in both lists ; for it is said 
afterwards, " We will that Sir Roger Ray^ 
Deputy to my Lord Chamberlain, two Gen- 
tlemen Ushers, and two Yeomen Ushers, at 
least, be always attending upon us." 



g2 



84 the royal household*. 

Yeomen of the Crown*. 

Twenty-four most seemly persons, cleanly 
and strongest Archers, honest of conditions, 
and of behaviour, bold men chosen and tried 
out of every Lord's house in England for 
their cunning and virtue thereof. One to be 
Yeoman of the Robes, another to be Yeoman 
of the Wardrobe of Beds in Household. 
These two, in certainty, eat in the King's 
Chamber daily. Other two be Yeomen 
Ushers of Chamber, eating there also. An- 
other to be Yeoman of the Stole, if it please 
the King. Another to be Yeoman of the 
Armory. Another to be Yeoman of the 
Bows for the King. Another Yeoman to 
keep the King's Books. Another to keep 
his Dogs for the Bow. And, except the first 
four persons, the remnant may to the Hall, 
as the Usher, &c. or another to keep his 
best ; and thus they may be put to business. 
Also it accordeth that they be chosen men 
of manhood, shooting, and specially of vir- 
tuous conditions. In the King's Chamber 

* See the " Curialia," Part III. 



YEOMEN OF THE CROWN. 85 

be daily sitting four messes of Yeomen ; and 
all the remnant eating in the Hall, sitting 
together above, joining to the Yeomen of 
Household ; except at the five Great Feasts 
of the year, then as many Yeomen of Crown 
and Chamber as may sit in the King's 
Chamber shall be served there during the 
Feast ; and every of them present in Court, 
hath daily allowed in the counting-house 
three-pence, and cloathing for winter and 

summer, and yearly, or else 

eighteen shillings, beside their watching 
cloathing of the King's Wardrobe. And if 
any of them be sent out by the King's Cham- 
berlain, then he taketh his wages of the 
Jewel-house, and vacat in the Cheque Roll 
till he be seen in Court again. Also lodging 

in the town, or in the country, sufficient for 

• 

their horses, as nigh together as the Her- 
biger of Household may dispose ; and al- 
ways two Yeomen of Crown to have an 
honest servant in to [the] Court, in the 
Noble Edward's Statutes. And these were 
called " The Twenty-four Archers de pie cou- 
rants entierement devant le Roy par pairs 



86 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

pour Gard [de] Corps du Roy ; V These 
were called the King's Watchment. At this 
[or rather that] day, a Yeoman took but ten 
shillings for his gown, and four shillings and 
eight pence for his hosen and shoone. They 
have nothing else with the Household sails 
carriage of their beds, two men together, by 
deliverance or assignment for that carriage 
of the Controllers, and litter for their beds of 
the Serjeant Usher of the Hall and Chamber. 
And if any of them be sick, or let blood, he 
taketh for all day a cast .of bread, one mess 
of great meat, one gallon of ale ; and if it be 
of great sickness, he must remove out of the 
Court. 

Also, when they make watch nightly, they 
should be gird with their swords, or with 
other weapons ready, and harness about them. 

A Barber for the King's most piigh 

AND DREAD PERSON. 

To be taking in this Court after that he 
standeth in degree, Gentleman, Yeoman, or 
Groom. It hath been much accustomed to 



* Sic lego. 



BARBER FOR THE KING. 87 

one or two well-known Officers of the Ewry 
in Household, such as been for the month, 
Serjeant, or other. Also we find how 

this hath been used among by 

a well-betrusted Yeoman of Chamber, for 
lack of cunning of these other men. It is 
accustomed that a Knight of Chamber, or 
else Squire for the Body, or both, be present 
every time when the King will be shaven. 

This Barber shall have every Saturday at 
night, if it please the King to cleanse his 
head, legs, or feet, and for his shaving, tw r o 
loaves, one pitcher of wine ; and the Ushers 
of Chamber ought to testify this, if this be 
necessary dispended or no. 

Also, this Barber taketh his shaving cloths, 
basons, and all his other towels'*, and things 
necessary, by the Chamberlain's assignment, 
of the Jewel-house ; no fees of plate or silver, 
but it be in his instrumental tools used by 
occupation, and that by allowance of the 
King's Chamberlain. 

* Tools in No. 642, in Bib. HarL 



88 the royal household. 

Henxmen. 

Six infants, or more, as it shall please the 
King, all these eating in the Hall, and sit- 
ting at one board together ; and to be served 
two or three to a mess, as the Sovereigns ap- 
point; taking daily for their breakfasts, 
amongst them all, two loaves, a mess of 
great meat, a gallon of ale. Also, for their 
supper in fasting days, according to their 
age, and livery nightly for them all to their 
chamber, one loaf, one gallon of ale ; and for 
winter livery, two candles wax, four candles 
p'is, three talsheds, for them all. Rushes 
and litter all the year, of the Serjeant Usher 
of the Hall and Chamber. And if these 
Gentlemen, or any of them, be Wards; then, 
after their births and degrees, the Steward 
and Treasurer, with the Chamberlain, may 
appoint the service more large in favour by 
their discretions, when as often as them 
needeth, till the King's Grace hath given or 
sold * their lands and wards. And all their 

* i. e. granted them during non-age. 



HENXMEN. 89 

competent harness to be carried, and bed- 
dings. Two lodged together at the King's 
carriage, by oversight of the Comptroller; 
and every of them an honest servant to keep 
their chamber and harness, and to array him 
in this Court whilst their Masters be present 
in Court ; or else to allow here no chamber 
dokyns, &c. And all other findings for their 
beds they take of the King's Wardrobe, by 
suit of the Master of Henxmen, made to the 
King's Chamberlain for warrants. 

Master of Henxmen. 

To shew the schools of urbanity and nur- 
ture of England; to learn them to ride cleanly 
and surely ; to draw them also to justs ; to 
learn them wear their harness ; to have all 
courtesy in words, deeds, and degrees ; dili-* 
gently to keep them in rules of goings and 
sittings after they be of honour. Moreover 
to teach them sundry languages, and other 
learnings virtuous; to harping, to pipe, sing, 
and dance, with other honest and temperate 
behaving and patience ; and to keep daily and 
weekly with these children due [disciplinej, 



90 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

with corrections in their chambers, according 
to such gentlemen ; and each of them to be 
used to that thing of virtue that he shall be 
most apt to learn, with remembrance daily of 
God's service accustomed. This Master sit- 
teth in the Hall next unto beneath these 
Henxmen, at the same board ; to have his 
respects unto their demeanings, how man- 
nerly they eat and drink ; and to their com- 
munication, and other forms curia], after the 
book of urbanity. He taketh daily, if he be 
present in Court, wages, cloathing, and other 
liveries, as other Esquires of Household, 
save he is not charged with serving of the 
Hall. Carriage also for harness in Court 
competent by the Comptroller to be with the 
Henxmen his harness in Court ; and to have 
into this Court one servant, whilst he is pre- 
sent ; and sufficient liveries for his horses, in 
the town or country, by the Herberger. And 
if he be sick in Court, or let blood, he taketh 
two loaves, two mess of great meat, one 
gallon ternoise *. And for the fees that he 

* Forte Tournois, 



SQUIRES OF HOUSEHOLD. 91 

claimeth among the Henxmen of all their 
apparel, the Chamberlain is the judge. 

Squires of Household. 

Forty, or more, if it please the King, by 
the advice of his High Council, to be chosen 
men of their profession, worship, and wisdom ; 
also to be of sundry Shires, by whom it may 
be known the disposition of the Countries. 
And of these, to be continually in this Court 
Twenty Squires attendant upon the King's 
Person, in riding and going at all times, and 
to help serve his table from the Surveying- 
board, and from other places, as the Assewar 
will assign.— Also, by their common assent, 
to assign amongst themselves some to serve 
the King's Chamber, at one day, week, or 
time, some to serve the Hall at another time, 
of every mess that cometh from the dressing- 
board to their hands for such service, so that 
thereof be nothing withdrawn by the Squires, 
upon such pain as Steward, Treasurer, or 
Controller, or in their absence other Judges 
at the counting-board, will award, after their 



92 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

demerits. — They eat in the hall, sitting to- 
gether at any of the both meals as they serve, 
some the first meal, some the latter, by assent. 
This hath be [been] always the manner 
amongst them for honour [and] profit to the 
King. — It may be, that the King taketh into 
Household in all Sixty Squires, and yet, 
amongst them all, Twenty take not the whole 
wages of the year [sic] ; wherefore the 
number of persons may be received and suf- 
fered the better in the checque-roll for a wor- 
ship, and the King's profit saved, and ease to 
them self. — Every of them taketh for his 
livery at night, half a gallon of ale ; and for 
winter season, each of them taketh two can- 
dles parris, one faggot, or else half talwode. 

When any of them is present in Court, he 
is allowed for daily wages, in the checque roll, 
seven-pence halfpenny, and clothing winter 
and summer; or else forty shillings. It 
hath ever been in special charge to Squires 
in this Court, to wear the King's Livery cus- 
iomably, for the more glory, and in worship 
of this honourable Household : and every of 
them to have in to this Court an honest ser- 



SQUIRES OF HOUSEHOLD. 93 

vant, and sufficient livery in the towns or 
countries for their horses, and other servants, 
by the herberger. Two Gentlemen lodged 
together, and they be coupled bed-fellows 
by the Gentlemen Ushers. — And if any of 
them be let blood or sick in Courts or nigh 
thereto, he taketh livery in eating days, two 
loaves, two mess of great meat, one gallon of 
ale, for all day, and litter all the year of the 
Serjeant Usher of the hall for their beds in 
Court, — And if any of these Squires be sent 
out of Court, by Steward, Treasurer, or Con- 
troller, or other of the counting-house, for 
matter touching the Household, then he hath 
daily allowed him twelve pence by petition. 
Also they pay for their carriage of harness 
in Court. They take no part of the general 
gifts, neither with chamber nor with hall, 
but if the giver give them specially a part by 
express name or words. None of these should 
depart from Court but by licence of Steward, 
Treasurer, or Sovereigns of the Counting- 
house, that know how the King is accompa- 
nied best : and to take a day when they 
should come again, upon pain of loss of 



94 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

wages at his next coming. — That no Ser- 
jeant of Office, nor Squire, nor Yeoman, nor 
Groom, but as be appointed in this Book, to 
dine or sup out of Hall and King's Chamber, 
nor to withdraw any service, or else to hurt 
or little the almesse [alms] of Hall or Cham- 
ber, upon such pain as the Sovereigns of 
Household will award by the Statutes of 
Noble Edward III. " In none office, &c/' 

It hath been often, in days before, com- 
manded by the Counting-house, that in ferial 
days, after that the King and Queen, and their 
Chambers, and the Sovereigns of Household 
in the Hall, be served, that then such honest 
Yeomen of Household be called or assigned 
to serve from the dresser to the hall the rem- 
nant, specially such as bear wages, that, if 
any service be withdrawn by them, that then 
they to be corrected therefor. 

These Squires of Household, of old, be 
accustomed, winter and summer, in after- 
noons and in evenings, to draw to Lord's 
Chambers within Court, there to keep ho- 
nest company, after their cunning, in talking 
of chronicles of Kings, and of other policies, 



SQUIRES OF HOUSEHOLD. 95 

or in piping or harping, songings, or other 
acts marriables * ; to help to occupy the 
Court, and accompany strangers, till the time 
require of departing. 

" Item, that daily there awaite twenty- 
four Squires to serve the King and Queen, 
of whom twelve to serve at the first dinner, 
and to dine at the second ; and the twelve 
sitting at the first dinner, to serve the second 
dinner, and there to awaite to serve the King 
and Queen \" 

Dom. Regis Anglise. The Esquires — 
" oftentimes these stand instead of Carvers 
and Cup-Bearers f" 

Kings of Arms, Heralds, and 
Pursuivants. 

Coming into this Royal Court to the wor- 
ship of these five Feasts in the year, sitting at 
meats and suppers in the Hall, and to begin 
that one end of the table together, upon days 
of estate, by the Marshall's assignation, at 

* Sic. 

t Harleian MSS. 642, p. 177.— Rigid Orders re- 
garding Offenders, p. 97. b. 



96 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

one meal. And if the King keep estate, by 
the Marshall's assignation, in the Hall, then 
these walk before the Steward, Treasurer, 
and Comptroller, coming with the King's 
Surveyor * from the surveying-board at every 
course. And, after the last course, they cry 
the King's largesse > shaking their great cup. 
They take their largesse of the Jewel-house ; 
and during these Festival-days they wait upon 
the King's Person coming and going to and 
from the Church, Hal], and Chamber, before 
his Highness, in their coats of arms. They 
take neither wages, cloa thing, nor fees, by 
the Compting-house ; but livery for their 
chamber, day and night, amongst them two 
loaves, a pitcher of wine, two gallons of ale ; 
and for winter season, if there be present a 
King of Arms, for them all, one tortays at 
chandry, two candles wax, three candles 
p'is, three talsheds. These Kings of Arms 
are served in the Hall as Knights, service 
and livery for their horses nigh the Court, by 
the Herberger. — Alway remembered, that 

* Rectius, No. 642 reads Service, 



HERALDS, &C. $f 

the cup which the King doth create any 
King of Arms or Herald withal, it standeth 
in the charge of the Jewel-house, and not 
upon the Treasurer of Household. 

The fees that they shall take at the making 
of Knights of the Bath, it appeareth next 
after the chapter of Squires. 

Serjeants of Arms *. 

Four chosen proved men, of haviour and 
condition, for the King and his Honourable 
Household; whereof two alway to be at- 
tending upon the King's Person and Cham- 
ber, and to avoid the press of people before 
where as the King shall come : in like wise 
at the conveyance of his meat at every course 
from the surveying board ; also observing for 
[of] the King's commandments, and so after 
the Steward, Chamberlain, Treasurer, and 
Controller, for the King, or for his House- 
hold. They eat in the Hall, together or with 
Squires of Household, taking their wages of 
twelve-pence by [the] day, or four-pence, as 

* See the « Curialia," Part V. 
H 



98 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

it pleaseth the King, after their abilities, by 
letters patents ; and clothing also, to be taken 
of the issue and profit growing to the King 
in divers counties of England$ by the hands 
of the receivers of them. No more having 
in Household; but every of them, when he is 
present in Court, at night, a gallon of ale ; 
and for winter livery, one candle wax, two 
candles p'is, one talshed ; rushes [and] litter 
for their chamber of the Serjeant Usher all 
the year. They pay for the carriage of their 
proper harness and bedding; and every of 
them to have in to this Court, one honest 
servant. By the Statutes of the Noble Ed- 
ward, were thirty Serjeants of Arms, suffi- 
ciently armed and horsed, riding before his 
Highness when he journeyed by the country 
for a Garde de Corps du Roi. And if any 
of these be sick, or be let blood, he taketh 
daily two loaves, two messes of great meat, 
one gallon of ale, and thus to be brevied in 
the Pantry -Roll. Also sufficient lodging 
assigned these Serjeants together, not far 
from Court, for hasty errands [when] they 
fall. 



99 



Minstrels. 



Thirteen; whereof one is Verger, that di* 
recteth them all in festival days to their sta* 
tions, to blowings and pipings to such offices 
as must be warned to prepare for the King 
and his Household, at meats and suppers, to 
be the more ready in all services ; and all 
these sitting in the Hall together, whereof 
some use trumpets, some shalmuse * and 
small pipes, and some are strange-men 
coming to this Court at five feasts of the year ; 
and then to take their wages of Household 
after four-pence halfpenny a day, if they be 
present in Court ; and then they to avoid the 
next day after the feasts be done. Besides 
each of them another reward yearly, taking 
[taken] of the King, in the Receipt of the 
Chequer, and cloathing with the House- 
hold, winter and summer, or twenty shillings 
a-piece, and livery in Court at even — » 
amongst them all four gallons of ale ; and 

* Shawms. 
H 2 



100 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

for winter season, three candles wax, six 
candles p'is, four tallow candles, and suffi- 
cient lodging, by the Herbergers for them 
and their horses in the Court. Also having 
in the Court two servants, honest, to bear 
the trumpets^ pipes, and other instruments ; 
and a torch for winter nights, whilst they 
blow to suppers, and other revels at Chaun- 
dry. And always two of these persons to 
continue in Court in wages, being present 
to warn at the King's ridings, when he goeth 
to horseback, as oft as it shall require. And 
by their blowings the Household-men may 
follow in the countries. And if any of these 
two Minstrels be sick in Court, he taketh 
two loaves^ a mess of great meat, a gallou of 
ale. They have part of any rewards given 
to the Household. And if it please the 
King to have two strange Minstrels to con- 
tinue in like wise. The King woll not for 
his worship that his Minstrels be too pre- 
sumptuous, nor too familiar, to ask any re- 
wards of the Lords of his land, remember- 
ing " De Henrico Secundo Imperatore, qui 
omnes Joculatores suos et . . . . monuerit 



MINSTRELS. 101 

ut nullus eorum in ejus nomine, vel dum- 
modo steterunt in servicio suo, nihil ab aliquo 
in regno suo deberent petere donandum, sci- 
licet, quod ipsi Domini donatores pro Regis 
amore citius pauperibus erogarent." 



A Waytjs. 

That nightly, from Michaelmas till 
Shere-Thursday *, pipeth the watch within 
this Court four times, and in summer nights 
three times, and he to make bon Gayte, 
and every chamber-door and office, as well 
for fire as for other pikers, or pellys f . He 
eateth in the Hall with the Minstrels, and 
taketh livery at night, half a paine, half a 
gallon of ale ; and for summer nights, two 
candles p'is, half a bushel of coals ; and for 
winter nights, half a loaf, half a gallon of 
ale, four candles p'is, half a bushel of coals ; 
and daily, if he be present in Court, by the 
Cheque Roll, four -pence halfpenny, or three 

* i. e. Maunday Thursday. 
f Perhaps Perils. 



102 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 

pence, by the discretion of Steward and Trea^ 
surer, and after the cunning that he can, and 
good deserving. Also cloathing with the 
Household Yeomen, or Minstrels, according 
to the wages that he taketh. And if he 
be sick, or let blood, he taketh two loaves, 
half a mess of great meat, [and] one gallon 
of ale. Also he partaketh with the general 
gifts of Household, and hath his bedding 
carried, and his grooms together, by the 
Controller's assignment. And under this 
Yeoman, a Groom TVayte ; if he can excuse 
the Yeoman in his Office, and absence, then 
he taketh reward and cloathing, meet re- 
wards, and other things, like to the other 
Grooms of Household. Also this Yeoman 
wayteth at the makings of Knights of the 
Bath, watching by night-time upon them in 
the chapel ; wherefore he hath of fee all the 
watching cloathing that the Knights do wear 
upon [them]. 



103 



Clerk of the Crown in Chancery. 

This Officer was anciently one of the 
Chancellors Family *. 

Formerly accompanied the Masters in 
Chancery in carrying Bills to the Lower 
House f . 

Reads the Titles of Bills in the House of 
Lords J. 

Sir George Copping was Clerk of the 
Crown, anno 1 Jac. I. § 

The fee of the Clerk of the Crown, in the 
Reign of Queen Elizabeth, was 201. \\ 

* Lex Parliamentaria. f Ibid. p. 195. 

% Ibid. 197 t § Ibid. 301. 

|| See Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, vol. i. p. 5 k 



104 SUPPORTERS, &C. 

SUPPORTERS, 
CRESTS, and COGNIZANCES, 

OF THE 

KINGS OF ENGLAND. 



Richard II. 

Was the first who bore his Escocheon sup- 
ported ; viz. by Two Angels. 

Cognizances. — A White Hart couchant, 
gorged with a* Gold Chain and Coronet, 
under a Tree ; derived from the Princess. Joan 
his Mother. 

Also a Peascod Branch, with the Pods 
open, but the Peas out. 

Henry IV. 

Dexter, a Swan. Sinister, an Antelope. 
Cognizance.— A Fox's Tail dependant. 



OF KINGS OF ENGLAND. 105 



Henry V. 

Two Swans, when Prince of Wales, hold- 
ing in their beaks an Ostrich-feather and a 
Scroll ; when King, a Lion and an Antelope. 

N. B. He first bore three Fleurs de Lis, 
instead of the Semee; and wrote himself 
King of England and France, whereas those 
before him wrote France and England. 

Henry VI. 

Two Antelopes, Argent, attired, accolled 
with Coronets, and chained Or. 

Cognizance. — Two Feathers in Saltire, 

Edward IV. 

A Lion for Marche ; and a Bull for Clare. 
Two Lions, Argent. 
The Lion and the White Hart of 
Richard II. 

Cognizances. — The White Rose. 

The Fetter-Lock. 

The Sun after the Battle of Mortimer's 



106 SUPPORTERS, &C. 

Cross, when three Suns were seen, which 
immediately conjoined. 
The Rose is in the centre. 

Edward V, 

The Lion and a Hinde, Argent. 
Cognizance. — The Rose and the Falcon 
in a Fetter- Lock. 

Richard III. 

Two Boars. 
A White Boar. 

" The Cat, the Rat, and Lovel the Dog, 
Rule all England under the Hog." 

i. e. Sir William Catesby, Sir Richard Rat- 
cliff, and Lord Lovel, creatures of King 
Richard. One Collingborne was executed 
for this poetry *. 

Cognizance. — The Rose. 

Henry VII. 

Med Dragon (for Cadwallader), Dexter. 
A Greyhound, Argent, accolled Gules, 
Sinister, for Nevile. 

* Leigh's Choice Observations. 



OF KINGS OP ENGLAND. 10? 

Cognizances. — The JVhite Rose united to 
the Red. 

A Portcullis for Beaufort. 

A Hawthorn Bush with the Crown in it. 

Richard's Crown was found in a Hawthorn 
Bush after the Battle of Bosworth *. 

Henry VIII. 

The Red Dragon and Greyhound. 

Afterwards, the Lior Dexter ; the Dragon 
Sinister. 

Cognizances. — A Red Rose. 

A Fleur de Lis. 

A Portcullis. 

An Archer (Green) drawing his Arrow 
to the Head ; with " Cui adheereo praeest." 
taken at the interview between him and 
Francis I. 

Edward VI. 

The Lion and Red Dragon. 
Cognizance. — He bore the device of 
Prince of Wales, though never created. 

* Leigh's Choice Observations, p. 15 1« 



108 supporters, &c« 

Queen Mary. 

An Eagle and Lion. — These are the Sup* 
porters in the Coat of Philip and Mary, im- 
paled, over the chimney in the Hall of Trinity 
College, Oxford, as of the year 1554, put up 
1772, when Lord North, afterwards Earl of 
Guilford, became Chancellor *. 

Cognizance. — When Princess, the White 
and Red Rose for York and Lancaster, with 
a Pomegranate for Spain. — When Queen, 
Time winged, drawing Truth out of a Pit ; 
with " Veritas Temporis Filia." 

Queen Elizabeth. 

A Lion and Red Dragon. 
Cognizavwe.-r-A. Sieve, without a motto. 
The words Video; Taceo. Semper Eadem f. 

James I. 

The Lion (for England), and the Uni- 
corn (for Scotland). 

Cognizances. — A Rose ; a Fleur de Lis ; 
a Harp (for Ireland) ; a Greyhound current. 

* Churchill, in his Divi Britannici, gives a Lion 
and a Griffin. t Vide Camden's Remains. 



109 

REGAL TITLES. 



" His most Christian Majesty 
The King of France/' 

Stowe says that Charlemagne, being 
chosen Emperor, A. D. 800, on account of 
his great zeai for the good of Christendom, 
was the first King of France that attributed 
to himself (1 rather think received from the 
Pope) the Style and Title of The Most 
Christian King of France; and from him 
his Successors have continued it *. 

His Sacred Majesty 
The King of Great Britain. 

First given to (or rather assumed by) 
King James I. f — Grace was the old Title. 
— Majesty succeeded to it at the latter end 
of the Reign of Henry VIII. J 

* Chronicle, p. 693. 

f Mortimer's Dictionary, in voce Sacred. 

I Mortimer's Dictionary. 



110 BEGAL TITLES. 



His Catholic Majesty. 
(Spain.) 

About the year 1493, Pope Alexander VI. 
gave to Ferdinand, King of Spain, the Title 
of Catholick King, in memory and acknow- 
ledgment of the many Victories he had ob- 
tained over the Moors *. 

* Platina. 



Ill 



ON THE 



VIRTUES 



OF 



%ty 3&opal Cotter 



KINGS OF ENGLAND. 

AS the following subject, which has exer- 
cised the faith and incredulity of mankind 
for so many ages, comes before me in the 
light of a religious ceremonial, 1 shall not 
attempt to defend or depreciate the validity of 
this gift ; though it may be necessary to ob- 
serve some circumstances as they occur, which 
may point different ways. Well-attested 
instances of the effect of this power of healing 
may be produced ; though other examples are 
too ludicrous and futile to attract serious at- 
tention. We may, however, in these enlight- 
ened and unsupefstitious times, speak freely 



112 VIRTUES OF ROYAL TOUCH. 

on a subject, which for many years, I may 
say centuries, absorbed the faith of whole 
Nations ; viz. the Cure of the King's Evil by 
the Royal Touch. As Mr. Addison, in the 
quality of The Spectator, professed a modest 
veneration for a couple of sticks, if concealed 
under petticoats; so am I loyally and reli- 
giously induced to " honour the King/' as # 
part of our excellent Constitution : but why 
Kings should have in themselves a preter- 
natural gift above other men, by healing the 
most stubborn of all diseases, exceeds my 
comprehension. Every body is, at this time, 
I dare believe, of the same opinion ; and this 
foolish affectation of a divine inherent power 
has wisely been laid aside, ever since the ac- 
cession of the House of Hanover. 

If Kings really possessed such an uncom- 
mon, such a wonderful gift, why has it been 
taken away ? The same legal rights remain 
in the Royal Person now that have adhered 
to it for ages — while this Divine Prero- 
gative has fallen away ; or rather let us say. 
that the incredulity of the world has in- 
creased. 



KINGS OF ENGLAND 113 

The cases brought forward by the advocates 
for this Gift are exceedingly strong and well 
attested ; but yet there is something so pal- 
pably absurd in the mere supposition, that 
the evidence, when brought forward, will 
be found to destroy itself on a cross-exami- 
nation. 

As to the subject, and all its wonderful 
consequences, I have just as much faith as I 
have in the two following circumstances : 

Lord Bolingbroke tells us, from Bodin^ 
Amyot, and other writers, that Ferdinand 
King of Spain, and Alphonsus King of Na- 
ples, were cured of desperate distempers by 
reading Livy and Quintus Curtius *. Again, 
there was such astonishing virtue in Quintus 
Curtius, that we are further told, Alphonsus 
IX. King of Spain f was healed by reading 
his works, after having in vain read the Bible 
throughout fourteen times J. Credat qui 

* Bolingbroke, on the Study of History, p. 22. 

f Obiit 1214. Query if not the same as Alphon- 
sus above ? 

% Warton's History of English Poetry, p. 133, 

I 



114 VIRTUES O* ROYAL TOtCH. 

vult. And yet I could as soon subscribe to 
these, as to the cures performed by the Royal 
Touch, 

Anciently there was great reputed sanative 
virtue in a seventh son ; and he was looked 
upon as a heaven-born Doctor, and those his 
medical abilities were reverenced for that 
teason only by the common people. So far 
the Doctor would be safe, and might kill 
with impunity ; but it was a crime to heal, 

Thus I have a case before me in the Reign 
of King Charles I. where a poor unfortunate 
man, who was the seventh son of a seventh 
son, and never killed any body (for he w r as a 
gardener, and not a physician), was severely 
treated, because he pretended to have in hint 
the faculty of healing several disorders, and 
especially the King's Evil, by the Touch or 
stroking of his hand. This man wag impru* 
dent enough to depreciate the Royal Touch ; 
otherwise, at that time, he might have ob- 
tained a comfortable subsistence from his 
credulous patients ; but that unfortunate 
intrenchment on the Royal Prerogative drew 
down upoti him the double vengeance of the 



KINGS OF ENGLAND. 115 

Court of Star- Chamber, and of the College 
of Physicians ; which last, in the most courtly 
manner, denounced him to be an impostor*. 
Delenda est Carthago. It was highly ne- 
cessary for the reputation of the Royal pre- 
tensions that this man should be proscribed. 

The next person who appears to have 
usurped this Gift was Mr. Valentine Great- 
rackes, a gentleman of Ireland, who first 
practised his art of healing by the Touch 
in his own country; and afterwards came into 
England, where, at first, he obtained great 
reputation, which fell off by degrees, so that 
there was no occasion for any violent mea- 
sures to prevent his intrenching on the Royal 
Prerogative. 

This gentleman wrote an account of 
his several cures, in a Letter to the Ho- 
nourable Robert Boyle, which was printed 
in 1668. Whether Mr. Boyle was a believer 
I know not ; but it was at a time when the 
King practised, so that he might think it 
prudent to conceal his real sentiments. 

* See the story at large in Granger, from Dr. 
Charles GoodalPs Works. 

i 2 



116 



VIRTUES OF ROYAL TOUCH, 



How far imagination will operate in such 
cases, as the old women, even of this age, 
contend it does in Agues, is a question not 
for me to discuss ; but it tempts me to tran- 
scribe the following story, as given by Mr. 
Granger, vol. IV. p. 32. 

" 1 was myself a witness of the powerful 
workings of imagination in the populace, 
when the waters of Glastonbury were at the 
height of their reputation. The virtues of 
the spring there were supposed to be super- 
natural, and to have been discovered by a 
revelation made in a dream to one Matthew 
Chancellor. The people did not only expect 
to be cured of such distempers as were in 
their nature incurable, but even to recover 
their lost eyes, and tbeir mutilated limbs. 
The following story, which scarce exceeds 
what I observed upon the spot, was told me 
by a gentleman of character. ' An old 
woman in the workhouse at Yeovil, who had 
long been a cripple, and made use of crutches, 
was strongly inclined to drink of the Glaston- 
bury waters, which she was assured would 
cure her of her lameness. The master of 



KINGS OF ENGLAND. 11/ 

the workhouse procured her several bottles of 
water, which had such an effect, that she 
soon laid aside one crutch, and not long 
after, the other. This was extolled, as a mi- 
raculous cure. But the man protested to his 
friends, that he had imposed upon her, and 
fetched the water from an ordinary spring/ 
I need not inform the Reader, that when the 
force of imagination had spent itself, she re- 
lapsed into her former infirmity/' 



FRENCH KINGS. 

Whether the French Kings possessed this 
Gift in a greater or less degree than our own, 
I cannot decide ; but in point of antiquity, 
by the accounts of their Historians, they ex- 
ceed us by many centuries. 

The advocates for the priority, of the Kings 
of England in this wonderful Gift, tell you, 
that the French, seeing it with a jealous eye, 
invented a tale, and carried their claim up to 
Clovis, the first of that name in France, and 
their first Christian King, w r ho acceded t@ 



318 VIRTUES OT ROYAL TOUCH. 

the Throne A. D. 481 ; whereas we do not 
pretend to go higher than Edward the Con- 
fessor, who died in 1066. 

In reward for Clovis's faith and conversion, 
this Gift was bestowed upon him at his bap- 
tism, A. D. 496 ; and which he accordingly 
exercised immediately on one of his fa- 
vourites *. 

How it was first discovered to be inherent 
in the French King we are not told ; though 
we are assured as to our own, that the know- 
ledge of such power in King Edward was 
discovered, like many other similar wonders, 
from a dream. 

The usual date of the introduction of this 
miraculous Gift into France is fixed in the 
Reign of St. Louis [i. e. IX], a contem- 
porary with our Henry III. about 160 years 
after the death of the Confessor f. 

Unfortunately for the French Kings, there 
is a story extant, which overthrows their 
healing power, in a palpable instance which 

* See Mezeray. The name of this person was 
Lancinet. 

f Browne's " Adenochoiradelogia," 1684. Sea 
hereafter, under Charles II. 



FRENCH KINGS. 



119 



happened to Louis XL who having had an 
apoplexy, sent for a famous man to cure him, 
by name Francis of Poul. Francis, unhap- 
pily, had the Evil ; but, alas ! the Saint could 
not cure the King ; and, what was worse, 
the King could not cure the Saint *. 

On the other hand, as the French Kings 
possessed the faculty sooner than our Kings, 
so did it last longer ; for King George I. 
had the good sense not to pretend to it; 
whereas the French Kings kept up the farce 
at least till 177^, though with some address 
in the words spoken by the King ; viz. 
" The King touches you, and may God 
heal you !" [" Le Roy te touche, P.ieu te 
guerisse."] So that, in case the Touch fails, 
it is known where the blame is to lie ; which 
is to be attributed to the anger of God, or the 
want of faith in the party *j\ The French 

* Davies, ii. 181. 

f Louis XVI. of France went through this cere- 
mony, as appears from the Formule of his Corona- 
tion, published at the time, A.D. 1775. Louis XV. 
touched no less than 2000 persons, and Louis XIV. 
upwards of 2500. 

X3emelli (the famous Traveller) gives an account of 



120 VIRTUES OF ROYAL TOUCH. 

Kings gave alms on the occasion ; but I find 
no mention of particular pieces, as was the 
custom with us. I do not find that the 
French Kings ever touched, except upon 
Coronations ; though it was a repeated, if not 
an annual ceremony with us, performed daily 
for a certain season *, attended with a Form of 
Prayer, compiled for the purpose, which I shall 
hereafter preserve at length in the Appendix, 
together with the Ceremonial, after having 
given such accounts of the Practice itself, 
under the respective Kings, as are recorded 
by Writers on the subject. 

1600 persons being presented for this purpose to 
Louis XIV. on Easter Sunday 1686. Every French- 
man received 15 sous, and every Foreigner 30. 

In " De mirabiii Strumas Sanandi vi solis Gallias 
Regibus Christianissimis Divinitus concessa. Authore 
Andrea Laurentio, Regis Consiliario et Medico Pri- 
mario, 1609," is a very curious Print, representing 
King Henry IV. touching for the Evil; in which are 
introduced many Patients and Officers of the Court. 

The French confined their expression to the word 
Touchy though we use the term Heal> 

* See Browne. 



121 



EDWARD THE CONFESSOR*. 

To begin in order of time, I shall give you 
the narrative in Mr. Stowe's words, from the 
Latin account by Alfred, Abbot of Rivaulx. 
Thus then it is : 

" A young woman, married, but without 
children, had a disease about her jawes, and 
under her cheeke, like unto kernels, which 
they termed akornes, and this disease so cor- 
rupted her face with stench, that shee coulde 
scarce without great shame speake to any 
man. This woman was admonished in her 
sleepe, to go to King Edwarde, and get him 
to washe her face with water, and shee 
shoulde bee whole. To the Court shee came ; 
and the King hearing of this matter, dis- 
dained not to doe it ; having a bason of water 
brought unto him, hee dipped his hand 
therein, and washed the womannes face, and 

* Dr. Plot, in his Natural History of Oxfordshire, 
c. 10, § 125, Plate 16, No. 5, gives a Drawing of the 
Touch-piece, supposed to have been given by Ed- 
ward the Confessor. The ribbon, he says, was white. 



122 VIRTUES OF BOYAL TOUCH. 

touched the diseased place ; and this hee did 
oftentimes, sometimes also signing it with 
the signe of the Crosse, which after hee 
hadde thus washed it, the hard crust orskinne 
was softened and dissolved ; and drawing his 
hand by divers of the hples, out of the kernels 
came little wormes, whereof they were full 
with corrupt matter and blood, the King still 
pressed it with his handes to bring forth the 
corruption, and disdained not to suffer the 
stench of the disease, until! hee hadde 
brought forth all the corru { tion with press- 
ing : this done, hee commanded her a suffix 
cient allowance every day for all thinges ne- 
cessary, untill she hadd received perfect 
health, which was within a weeke after ; and 
whereas shee was ever beefore barren, within- 
one yeere shee had a childe by her husband. 
And although this thing seeme strange, yet 
the Normans sayde that hee often did the like 
in his youth, when he was in Normandy *." 

It does not appear that the King knew of 
this Gift before ; but he continued to use it 

* Stowe's Annals, p. 98. 



EDWAED. WILLIAM I. 123 

ever after, and his successors followed him in 
the practice. 

But this is not all : for Stowe affords us 
but one instance of the cure of a blind man 
by King Edward ; whereas the Abbot's ac- 
count * extends to six men totally blind, be- 
sides another who had lost one of his eyes ; 
all of whom were restored to perfect sight by 
the King f . 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR 

Had business enough upon his hands to 
employ his time, without thinking of such a 
matter as this ; but however, that he might, 
in quieter times, enjoy this Kingly attribute 
(though only a Bastard Son of a Territorial 
Duke), Voltaire tells us, that some depend- 
ants endeavoured to persuade the world, that 
this Gift was bestowed upon him from 

* See the " Decern Scriptores. ,> 
t Mr. Browne likewise believes that several blind 
persons were restored to sight by King Charles IL 



124 VIRTUES OF ROYAL TOUCH. 

Heaven * Whether he ever exercised it does 
not appear. Nothing but a special bounty 
of Heaven could convey to him this privilege; 
and such interference was necessary; for it 
was anciently held not to be inherent in any 
but lawful Kings, and not to extend to 
Usurpers ; so that it must have slept during 
all the wars between the Houses of York 
and Lancaster, till resumed by Henry VII. 
as will be mentioned in its place. 



EDWARD III. 

Mr. Joshua Barnes, the most copious His- 
toriographer of this Reign, does not positively 
say that King Edward exercised this Gift, 
presuming only that he had a double right to 
it, as Heir to both the Realms of England 
and of France ; and, consequently, more emi- 
nently endowed than Philip of Valois, the 
then French King*. The French, no doubt, 

* See Davies, ii. 180. 

t Barnes's History, b. ii. ch. 7. sect. 5. 



EDWARD III. HENRY VT. 125 

would deny it to him, as an usurping claim- 
ant of their Crown ; though they could not 
refuse his right, as derived to him as a legal 
King of England. 



HENRY VI. 

I have already conceived the Gift of heal- 
ing by the Touch to have been, as it were, 
in abeyance during the Civil Wars between 
the Houses of York and Lancaster; and there- 
fore have found no historical record of Cures 
performed by this Saint -like King, who had 
such ample religious claims. I have called 
him Saint-like, because he never was cano- 
nized, though it was attempted and refused 
by the Pope in the Reign of Henry VII. for 
reasons to be seen in Fuller's Church History 
of Britain *. 

Two reasons against the canonization are 
suggested by different Writers: — 1. That 
the then Pope thought King Henry VI. too 

* Book iv. p. 154. 



126 VIRTUES OP ROYAL TOUCH. 

simple to be sainted: — 2. That the contin- 
gent expence amounted to more than King 
Henry VII. was willing to defray, being not 
less than 1500 ducats of gold, a large sum at 
that time of day *. 

But, however, although King Henry VI. 
performed no Cures in his life-time, yet was 
a man miraculously saved from death at the 
gallows by the appearance of the King, 40 
years after his demise (in the 10th year of 
Henry VII.), by which intervention the 
halter had no effect; for the convict was 
found alive, after having hung the usual 
hour, and went speedily (as in duty bound) 
to return thanks at the King's Tomb at 
Chertsey, for such a wonderful deliverance. 
The Story states, that the man was really 
innocent, though, from circumstantial evi- 
dence, presumed to have been guilty ; other- 
wise the Ghost of so pious and merciful a 
King had doubtless never appeared to him 
and interposed. 

* Id. in eocL 



127 



HENRY VII. 

It is evident, from various concurrent cir* 
eumstances, that this King touched for the 
Evil, as the Religious Ceremonial used upon 
those occasions, such as Prayers, Benedic* 
tions, Suffrages, &c. during his Reign^ are 
to be found not only in MS. in the British 
Museum, but were afterwards printed by 
order of King James IL A. D. 1686 ; both 
in Latin. Another proof arises from charges 
made for pieces of money delivered for this 
purpose in that Reign; for, in the 18th yea? 
of Henry VII. we find a disbursement of 20 
shillings, made by John Heron, " for heling 
3 seke folks ;" and again, " 13s. 4d. for 
heling 2 seke folks." From these sums it 
is evident, that the Touch-pieces given were 
Nobles, or 6V. 8c?» in value *; The accounts 

* In the Ceremonial, the King crossed the Sore of 
the Sick Person, with an Artgd-Noble. 

Fabian Philips, in his Treatise on Purveyance, 
p. 257, asserts, " that the Angels issued by the Kings 
of England on these occasions, amounted to a charge 
&f three thousand pounds per annum" 



128 VIRTUES OF ROYAL TOUCH. 

of this John Heron are preserved, together 
with those of divers others, in the office of 
the Remembrancer of the Exchequer. The 
fact is further established from the testimony 
of Polydore Vergil, who wrote his History at 
the command of King Henry VII. (though it 
was not made public till the following Reign); 
wherein the Writer, after going a little into 
the origin of this Gift, adds, that the Kings 
of England, even in his time, healed persons 
afflicted with this disease [" Nam Reges An- 
glise etiam nunc Tactu strumosos sanant." 
He further subjoins, that the exercise of it 
was attended with hymns, and other devout 
ceremonies; meaning, no doubt, those above- 
mentioned : [" quibusdam hymnis non sine 
cseremoniis prius recitatis*." From look- 
ing over the Ceremonial, I conceive that by 
hymns, Polydore Vergil means the Gospel, 
which at that time was sung, or the suffrages, 
which might be chanted. 

I shall give a transcript of the service ap- 
propriated to this occasion in the Appendix, 
(No. I.) as the printed copies are very scarce, 

* Polydore Vergil, p. 143. Basil edit 1546. 



HENRY VII. 129 

I cannot dismiss this Reign without ob- 
serving that the learned Editor of the Nor- 
thumberland Household Book* is hereby 
proved to have been very inattentive, when 
he savs that " this miraculous Gift was left 

a/ 

to be claimed by the Stuarts, our ancient 
Plantogenets were humbly content to cure 
the Cramp *j\" 

What part the Plantagenets took in this 
business, for want of information, must be 
left doubtful ; but ample proof has been 
offered, that the Tudors possessed the Gift 
of Healing. 



EDWARD VI. 

The King now before us, though he kept a 
journal of all material occurrences, does not, 
however, once hint that he touched for the 
Evil, as probably his natural piety would have 

* The late truly venerable Bishop Percy. 

t Notes to p. 334. — This Ceremony of conse- 
crating the Cramp-Rings will be added to this ac- 
count of the King's Evil. See Appendix, No. III. 

K 



130 VIRTUES OF ROYAL TOUCH. 

led him to have done, had it ever taken place ; 
but, if there be any truth in the immediate 
prevalence of prayer on the ears of Heaven, 
an instance is recorded wherein the King ob- 
tained his request, in a more notable instance 
than any cure he might have performed by 
the operation of his Touch. Sir John Cheke, 
his Tutor for the Greek language, lay very 
dangerously ill, to the great disquiet and 
concern of the King, who, after frequent 
and daily inquiries, learned from the Physi- 
cians at last that there was not the least 
hope of life. " No," said the King, " he will 
not die now ; for this morning I begged his 
life from God in my prayers, and obtained it." 
This accordingly came to pass ; and Sir John 
recovered speedily, contrary to all medical 
expectations. The truth was ascertained by 
an ear-witness, the Earl of Huntingdon, who 
related it to the grandson of Sir John Cheke 
(Sir Thomas Cheke, of Pirgo, Essex), by 
whom it was mentioned to my Author *. 

* Fuller's Church History of Britain, book vii. 
p. 425. 



EDWARD VI. 131 

u Nee Deus intersit nisi dignus vindice Nodus;" 
and, if ever necessary, it was on this occasion; 
though the King lived but one year after- 
wards; and Cheke survived, to disgrace the 
Protestant Religion by his revolt. 



QUEEN ELIZABETH. 

That the Queen touched, is acknowledged : 
but it is as evident that she had no high opi- 
nion of the efficacy of such operation ; for she 
once threw out an expression tending much 
to disparage the validity of it. Being on a 
Progress in Gloucestershire, her Majesty was 
so pestered with applications from diseased 
people, who pressed about her person in 
hopes of obtaining the Royal Touch, that 
she unguardedly, and in an ill-humour, ex- 
claimed, " Alas, poor people, I cannot, I 
cannot cure you ; it is God alone who can do 
it." This was interpreted by some, as a re- 
nunciation of the Gift ; but, nevertheless, the 
Queen afterwards admitted a general resort 

k2 



132 VIRTUES OF ROYAL TOUCH. 

to her for the purpose of being touched, and 
one in particular was healed *. On this, or 
some other occasion, a rigid Papist was under 
a necessity of applying for the Queen's Touch, 
after having tried every other means in vain ; 
and was, says my Author, perfectly healed. 
This happening soon after the Pope had de- 
nounced the sentence of Excommunication 
against her Majesty, raised the reputation of 
this Gift in the Royal Line of England; 
seeing that the Pope had no power to divest 
the Queen of it *j\ 

The Queen, at another time, A. D. 1575, 
being on a Progress in Warwickshire, where 
she was entertained by the Earl of Leicester 
at Kenilworth Castle, during her abode 
there, " touched nine for the King's Evil J." 

* Browne, book iii. p. 124. 

t Browne in eod. ; and Tooker's IC Charisma," ch. 6. 

I Strvpe's Annals, iv. p. 394. 



133 



JAMES I. 

It does not appear that the Kings of Scot- 
land ever pretended to this Gift ; but when 
their James VI. came to the Throne of Eng- 
land, the virtue appeared in him ; and he ex- 
ercised it, as is evident from a passage in 
Macbeth*, and still more strongly from Pro- 
clamations in this Reign, still extant f. 

Being lineally descended from Henry the 
Seventh's Daughter, Margaret, this King 
had the same title to the Gift as Henry him- 
self, who, as has been seen, used it, though 
descended from a line of Usurpers, 



CHARLES I. 

So pious a King, and so jealous of every 
prerogatory right, divine and human, could 

* Davies, ii. 179. 

t By a Proclamation, March 25, 1616, it appears 
that the Kings of England would not permit patients 
to approach them during the summer. 



134 VIRTUES OF ROYAL TOUCH. 

not fail to exercise this preternatural endow- 
ment*; and accordingly we find him regu- 
lating the manner and time that persons shall 
be admitted to the Royal Touch, by divers 

* The following interesting remarks on this subject 
were communicated to Mr. Nichols, in 1781, by the 
learned and very ingenious Dr. Aikin. " Though the 
superstitious notions respecting the cure of the King's 
Evil by the Touch of our English Kings are probably 
at present entirely eradicated, it is still a curious and 
not uninstructive object of enquiry, by what means 
they were so long supported, and by what kind of evi- 
dence they have been able to gain credit even in the 
dawning of a more enlightened period. The testi- 
mony of Richard Wiseman, Serjeant- Surgeon to King 
Charles I. has been alleged as one of the strongest and 
most unexceptionable in favour of the Touch. He 
was a man of the greatest eminence in his profession ; 
and his Works (collected in a folio volume, intituled, 
" Several Chirurgical Treatises, by Richard Wiseman, 
Serjeant-Chirurgeon, 1676") bear all the marks of an 
honest and upright disposition in their author. On the 
subject of the Royal Touch he delivers himself in 
the following strong and unequivocal terms : c I myself 
have been a frequent eye-witness of many hundreds 
of cures performed by his Majesty's Touch alone, 
without any assistance of Chirurgery; and those many 
of them such as had tired out the endeavours of able 



CHARLES I. 135 

Proclamations *. One is dated soon after his 
Accession, in 1621 f; another in 1626 ; and 
a third in 1628 J. He cured by his words 
only §. 

One would naturally be surprized to read 
of such numbers who received the Royal 

Chirurgeons before they came thither. It were end- 
less to recite what I myself have seen, and what I have 
received acknowledgments of by 'letter, not only from 
the several parts of the Nation, but also from Ireland, 
Scotland, Jersey, and Guernsey.' The question which 
will naturally arise upon this passage is, Did Wiseman 
really believe what he asserted, or was he knowingly 
promoting an imposture? Both suppositions have 
their difficulties; yet both are in some degree proba- 
ble. His warm attachment to the Royal Family, and 
early prejudices, might in some measure make his 

* By a Proclamation, June 18, 1626, it is ordered, 
that no one shall apply for this purpose, who does not 
bring a certificate that he was never touched before ; 
a regulation which undoubtedly arose from some sup- 
posed patients, who had attempted to receive the bit 
of gold more than once. 

t Ryrner, torn, xviii. p. 118. 

t Id. p. 1023. 

§ Browne, book iii. p. 135. 



136 VIRTUES OF ROYAL TOUCH. 

Touch in the 17th century, when the disease 
is now so nearly worn out ; but Mr. Browne 

faith preponderate against his judgment ; and, on the 
other hand, certain passages in his treatise necessarily 
shew a consciousness of collusion and fraudulent pre- 
tensions. It was his business, as Serjeant-surgeon, to 
select such afflicted objects as were proper to be pre- 
sented for the Royal Touch. In the history of the 
disease, relating its various states and appearances, he 
says, l Those which we present to his Majesty are 
chiefly such as have this kind of tumour about the 
musculus mastoideus, or neck, with whatever other cir- 
cumstances they are accompanied ; nor are we difficult 
in admitting the thick-chapped upper lips, and eyes 
affected with a lippitudo , in other cases we give our 
judgment more warily.' Here is a selection of the 
slightest cases, and a manifest doubt expressed con- 
cerning the success in more inveterate ones. A little 
below, observing that the struma will often be sup- 
purated or resolved unexpectedly from accidental 
ferments, he says, ' In case of the King's Touch, the 
resolution doth often happen where our endeavours 
have signified nothing ; yea, the very gumma t a ; in- 
somuch that I am cautious of predicting concerning 
them (though they appear never so bad) till 14 days 
be over.' From this we learn, that the Touch was by 
no means infallible, and that the pretence of its suc- 
ceeding was not given up till a fortnight had passed 



CHARLES I. 137 

tells us it raged remarkably at the period 
when he lived. 

without any change for the better. Indeed it appears 
very plain, that the worst kind of cases were seldom 
or never offered the Touch ; for in no disease does 
Wiseman produce more observations from his practice 
of difficult and dangerous chirurgical treatment, and 
in not one of these did he call in the assistance of the 
Royal Hand. It was indeed proposed in a single in- 
stance, but under such circumstances as furnish a 
stronger proof of imposture than any thing hitherto 
related. A young gentlewoman had an obstinate scro- 
phulous tumour in the right side of the neck, under 
the maxilla. Wiseman applied a large caustic to it, 
brought it to suppuration, treated it with escharotics, 
and cured it. * About a year after,' he says, 6 I saw 
lier again in town, and felt a small gland, of the big- 
ness of a lupin, lying lower on that side of the neck. 
I would have have persuaded her to admit of a re- 
solvent emplaster, and to be touched ; but she did 
not, as she said, believe it to be the King's Evil.' 
Here, after allowing his patient to undergo a course 
of very severe surgery, he is willing to trust the relics 
of the disease to the Royal Touch, assisted by a re- 
solving plaster ; but the complaint was now too trifling 
to engage her attention. Surely the greatest oppo- 
nent of the Touch will not place it in a more con- 
temptible light!" 



138 VIRTUES OF ROYAL TOUCH^ 

As to the giving of a piece of Gold, Mr. 
Browne says, " it only shews his Majestie's 
Royal well-wishes towards the recovery of 
those who come thus to be healed." In 
other parts of his book, however, he tells us 
that "some, losing their Gold*, their diseases 
have seized them afresh ; when, upon ob- 
taining a second Touch, and new Gold, their 
diseases have been seen to vanish." Again, 
as to the virtue contained in the Gold, he re- 
lates a story of a father and a son, who both 
were afflicted with the Evil, for which the 
former w 7 as touched, and received a piece of 
Gold ; but the latter never was touched, and 
had no Gold ; upon which the son borrows 
the father's Gold, and received great relief 
from it. During this interval the father 
grew worse, received back his Gold, and, 
after wearing it a little time, became better; 
and this practice was pursued for several 
years. Mr. Browne likewise gives other 
examples of the operation of the Gold, on 

* Sir Kenelm Digby informed Mons. Monconys, 
that if the person had lost the piece of gold, the com- 
plaint immediately returned. 



CHARLES I. 139 

persons who had never received the Touch. 
— Though we have called it Gold, which, in 
itself, was anciently reckoned to have a sana- 
tive quality in itself, yet Silver would do as 
well ; for Mr. Browne does not deny hut that 
a Silver two-pence has effectually done the 
business. The case was, that the King 
(Charles I.), who was the Operator, was then 
a Prisoner at Hampton Court, and perhaps 
had no Gold to spare ; and therefore, in se- 
veral instances, he used Silver, with which 
many were known to have been cured : — but, 
after all, by way of salvo, Mr. Browne adds, 
that such as failed of their cure — wanted 
Faith. From another passage in Mr. Browne's 
preface, one would be tempted to think that 
the virtue neither consisted in the Gold or the 
Silver, but in the Ribbon to which it was 
pendent ; for he assures those who contended 
that a second piece of Gold was necessary on 
a second Touch, that the same Gold, newly 
strung upon a White Ribbon, would work as 
effectually as a fresh piece of Gold. Some, 
he tells us, have been cured with the Touch 
only, without Gold or Silver. 



140 VIRTUES OF ROYAL TOUCH. 

Among other salvos in case of failure of 
the Touch, added to the want of faith, is, 
that the disease was mistaken in many in- 
stances ; and that the Patients did not labour 
under the Struma, or Evil, but some other 
similar disorder, over which the Royal Hand 
had no divine influence. 

There was such sympathy between the 
Royal Hand and the part touched, that Mr. 
Browne seems to believe a case that had been 
sent to him, of a woman, at a distance from 
London, who had formerly been cured by 
King Charles I. and whose sores broke out 
afresh upon the day of the King's death, 
though she was so ignorant of the world as 
not to know that it was to take place. But 
she soon recovered her health. 

The effect of this Divine Emanation has 
been said even to extend beyond the life of 
this unfortunate Monarch ; for part of the 
blood of this King being preserved on a piece 
of linen dipped therein, was found to have 
the same effect as the Touch, or his Prayers, 
when he was living *, 

* Browne, book iii. p. 109. 



CHARLES I. 141 

A wen is said to be cured by the hand of a 
dead man while hanging on the gallows. 
This is still a superstitious notion among 
the common people at this day ; and a child's 
cawl is a preservative against drowning in 
the notions of sailors (who are extremely 
credulous in general) : one often sees them 
advertised for sale ; and, if bought at all, 
they find a vent, no doubt, at Wapping. 

A wedding ring of gold, rubbed on a stye 
upon the eyelid, used to be esteemed a sove- 
reign remedy; but, if I mistake not, it must 
be applied nine times. 

CHARLES II. 

In January 1683, the following Procla- 
mation was ordered to be published in every 
Parish in the Kingdom *. 

" At the Court at Whitehall, 9th of January 16S3. 
Present, the King's Most Excellent Majesty; Lord 
Keeper, Lord Privy Seal, Duke of Ormond, Duke of 

* One of these is still preserved in a frame in the 
Vestry of St. Martin's Church at Leicester, placed 
there by the Rev. Samuel Carte, Vicar of that Parish, 
and brother of Mr. Thomas Carte the Historian. 



142 VIRTUES Or ROYAL TOUCH. 

Beaufort, Earl of Oxford, Earl of Huntingdon, Earl of 
Bridgewater, Earl of Peterborow, Earl of Chesterfield, 
Earl of Clarendon, Earl of Bathe, Earl of Craven, Earl 
of Nottingham, Earl of Rochester, Lord Bishop of 
London, Mr. Secretary Jenkins, Mr. Chancellor of the 
Duchy, Lord Chief Justice Jeffryes, Mr. Godolphin. 
Whereas, by the grace and blessing of God, the Kings 
and Queens of this Realm, by many ages past, have 
had the happiness, by their sacred Touch, and invoca- 
tion of the name of God, to cure those who are afflicted 
with the disease called the King's Evil ; and his Ma- 
jesty, in no less measure than any of his Royal Prede- 
cessors, having had good success therein ; and, in his 
most gracious and pious disposition, being as ready 
and willing as any King or Queen of this Realm ever 
was, in any thing to relieve the distresses and neces- 
sities of his good subjects ; yet, in his princely wisdom, 
foreseeing that in this (as in all other things) order is 
to be observed, and fit times are necessary to be ap- 
pointed for the performing of this great work of cha- 
rity, his Majesty was therefore this day pleased to de- 
clare in Council his Royal will and pleasure to be. 
That (in regard heretofore the usual times of present- 
ing such persons for this purpose have been prefixed 
by his Royal Predecessors) the times of public healings 
shall from henceforth be from the Eeast of All-Saints, 
commonly called Alhallow-tide, till a week before 
Christmas ; and after Christmas, until the first day of 
March, and then to cease till the Passion-week, being 



CHARLES II. 143 

times most convenient, both for the temperature of 
the season, and in respect of contagion, which may 
happen in this near access to his Majesty's sacred 
Person. And when his Majesty shall at any time think 
fit to go any progress, he will be pleased to appoint 
such other times for healing as shall be most conve- 
nient. And his Majesty doth hereby accordingly 
order and command, that, from the time of publishing 
this his Majesty's order, none presume to repair to his 
Majesty's Court to be healed of the said disease, but 
only at or within the times for that purpose hereby ap- 
pointed as aforesaid. And his Majesty was farther 
pleased to order, that all such as shall hereafter come 
or repair to the Court for this purpose, shall bring with 
them certificates, under the hands and seals of the par- 
son, vicar, or minister, and of both or one of the 
churchwardens of the respective parishes where they 
dwell, and from whence they come, testifying, ac- 
cording to the truth, that they have not, at any time 
before, been touched by his Majesty, to the intent to 
be healed of their disease. And all ministers and 
churchwardens are hereby required to be very careful 
to examine into the truth before they give such cer- 
tificates ; and also to keep a register of all certificates 
they shall from time to time give. And, to the end that 
all his Majesty's loving subjects may the better take 
knowledge of this his Majesty's command, his Majesty 
was pleased to direct, that this Order be read publicly 
in all parish-churches, and then be affixed to some 



144 VIRTUES OF ROYAL TOUCH. 

conspicuous place there ; and for that end the same 
be printed, and a convenient number of copies sent to 
the Most Reverend Father in God the Lord Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, and the Lord Archbishop of 
York, who are to take care that the same be delivered 
to all parishes within their respective provinces. 

Loyd. 
" London, printed by the Assigns of John Bill, de- 
ceased, and by Henry Hills, Printers to the King's 
Most Excellent Majesty." 

A regular Notice to the same effect was 
published by authority in the London Ga- 
zette. 

In 1684, John Browne, Sworn Chirur- 
geon in Ordinary to the King's Most Ex- 
cellent Majesty, published a work, not now 
easily to be met with, except in the Libraries 
of the curious ; and perhaps, for its general 
subjects, exploded at this day, as the fashion 
of physick has much altered, as well as 
many new and important discoveries been 
made, since it was written. It is in three 
Books. The Titles to the three Books are — 
1 . " jldenochoiradelogia ; or, an Anatomick- 
Chyrurgical Treatise of Glandules and Stru- 



CHARLES ll. 145 

maes, or King's Evil Swellings. Together 
with the Royal Gift of Healing or Cure 
thereof, by contact or imposition of Hands, 
performed for above 640 years by our Kings 
of England, continued with their admirable 
Effects and miraculous Events; and concluded 
with many wonderful Examples of Cures by 
their Sacred Touch ; all which are succinctly 
described by John Browne, one of His Ma- 
jesty's Chyrurgeons in Ordinary, and Chy- 
rurgeon of his Majesty's Hospital ; published 
with His Majesty's Royal Approbation : To- 
gether with the Testimony of many eminent 
Doctors and Chyrurgeons; Sold by Samuel 
Lowndes, over-against Exeter Change in 
the Strand." 2; a Chceradelogia ; or an 
Exact Discourse of Strumaes, or King's Evil 
Swellings ; wherein are discovered their 
Names and Natures, Differences, Causes, 
Signs, Presages, and Cure, in that modest 
and plain Dress, that the meanest capacity 
may hereby find out the Disease." 3. Cha- 
risma Basilicon ; or^ the Royal Gift of Heal- 
ing Strumaes, or King's Evil, Swellings, by 

h 



146 VIRTUES OE ROYAL TOUCH. 

Contact or Imposition of the Sacred Hands 
of our Kings of England and of France, 
given them at their Inaugurations. Shewing 
the Gift itself, and its continued Use, de- 
claring all Persons Healed thereby, without 
any respect either to their Age, Sex, Temper, 
or Constitution ; with the Manner, Form, 
and Ceremonies thereof; and divers general 
Rules for the meanest capacity to find out 
the Disease. The best expedient to prevent 
poor People from unnecessary Journeys. 
The whole concluded with above Sixty ad- 
mirable Cures, performed with and without 
Gold, by His Majesty's Benediction ; by His 
Late Majesty's precious Blood; and the 
like/' Prefixed to the work is a portrait of 
Browne, engraved by R. White, inscribed 
" Johannes Browne, Regis Britannici necnon 
Nosocomii sui Chirurgus Ordinarius ;" and 
a curious frontispiece, also engraved by White, 
entitled " The Royal Gift of Healing," re- 
presenting Charles II. seated on his Throne, 
surrounded by his Court, touching for the 
King's Evil. 

This ceremony seems to have been in 



CHARLES II. 147 

high vogue during this reign. " The King 
gives freely/ 5 says Mr. Browne, " not call- 
ing the Angels to witness, nor sinking so 
low as others do, to perform the same by 
Black Art or Inchantment. He does it with 
a pure heart, in the presence of the Almighty, 
who knows all things, without superstition, 
curing all that approach his Royal Touch. 
And this I may frankly presume to aver, 
that never any of his Predecessors have 
ever exercised it more, or more willingly 
or freely, whose wonderful effects, and cer- 
tainty of cure, we must and shall ever ac- 
knowledge *." 

This is followed by accounts of about 70 
" wonderful and miraculous cures, performed 
by his Majesty's Sacred Hands ;" and also 
by " An Account of the Number of Persons 
touched for the King's Evil, from May 1660 
to September 1 664, from the Registers kept 
by Thomas Haynes, Esq. Serjeant of the 
Chapel Royal ; from which I shall copy the 
totals of each vear : 

* Browne, book iii. p. 126. 

l2 



148 VIRTUES OF ROYAL TOUCH, 



1660 - 


- 6725 


1661 - 


- 4619 


1662 - 


- 4275 


1663 - 


- 4667 


1664 - 


- 3335 


Another account) 


kept by Mr. Thomas 


Donkley, Keeper of his Majesty's Closet be- 


longing to the Chapel Royal, continues the 


Numbers as follows ; 




1667 - 


* 3078 


1668 - 


- 3543 


1669 - 


- 2983 


1670 - 


- 3377 


1671 - 


- 3568 


1672 - 


- 3771 


1673 - 


- 4457 


1674 - 


- 5079 


1675 - 


- 3471 


1676 - 


- 4454 


I677 - 


- 4607 


1678 - 


- 3456 


1679 - 


- 3752 


1680 - 


- 3796 


1681 - 


- 2461 


1682 - 


- 8577 


Summa Totalis 


- - - 92,107 



149 



QUEEN ANNE. 

It appears by the Newspapers of the time, 
that on the 30th of March, 1714, two hun- 
dred persons were touched by Queen Anne *, 
Amongst these was Samuel Johnson, after- 
wards the justly celebrated Moral Writer. 
He was sent by the advice of Sir John 
Floyer, then a Physician at Lichfield ; and 
many years afterwards, being asked if he 
could remember Queen Anne, said, Ci he had 
a confused, but somehow a sort of solemn re- 
collection of a Lady in diamonds, and a long 
black hood/' 

The Honourable Daines Barrington f has 
preserved an anecdote, which he heard from 
an old man who was witness in a cause with 
respect to this supposed miraculous power of 
Healing. " He had, by his evidence, fixed 
the time of a fact, by Queen Anne's having 
been at Oxford, and touched him, whilst a 

* The Ceremony used in this Reign is given in the 
Appendix, No. II. 

t Observations on the Statutes. 



150 VIRTUES OF ROYAL TOUCH. 

child, for the Evil. When he had finished 
his evidence, I had an opportunity of asking 
him, whether he was really cured ? Upon 
which he answered, with a significant smile, 
" that he believed himself to have never had 
any complaint that deserved to be considered 
as the Evil ; but that his parents were poor, 
and had no objection to the bit of gold. 99 

The learned and honourable Writer very 
properly observes on this occasion, " that this 
piece of gold, which was given to those who 
were touched, accounts for the great resort 
upon this occasion, and the supposed after- 
wards miraculous cures. " 



GEORGE I. 

Although this Monarch, who succeeded to 
the Crown in 1714, had the good sense not 
to pretend to this miraculous Gift, it was as- 
sumed by the Descendants of the race of 
Stuarts. And it is well recollected, that Mr. 
Carte's (in other respects very excellent) 
" History of England" fell into almost 



GEORGE I. 151 

immediate disrepute, on his making, in one 
of his notes, a bold assertion, the substance 
of which shall be here given : 

" Whatever is to be said in favour of its being 
appropriated to the eldest Descendant of the first 
branch of the Royal Line of the Kings of France, 
England, &c. I have myself seen a very remarkable 
instance of such a cure, which could not possibly be 
ascribed to the Royal Unction. One Christopher 
Lovel, born at Wells in Somersetshire, but when he 
grew up residing in the City of Bristol, where he got 
his living by labour, was extremely afflicted for many 
years with that distemper, and such a flow of the scro- 
phulous humour, that, though it found a vent by five 
running sores about his breast, neck, and arms, there 
was such a tumour on one side of his neck, as left no 
hollow between his cheek and the upper part of his 
left shoulder, and forced him to keep his head always 
awry. The young man was reduced, by the virulence 
of the humour, to the lowest state of weakness ; ap- 
peared a miserable object in the eyes of all the inha- 
bitants of that populous city ; and, having for many 
years tried all the remedies which the art of physic 
could administer, without receiving any benefit, re- 
solved at last to go abroad to be touched. He had an 
uncle in the place, who was an old seaman, and carried 
him from Bristol, at the end of August, A. D. 1716, 
along with him to Cork in Ireland, where he put him 
on board a ship that was bound to St. Martin's in the 



152 VIRTUES OF ROYAL TOUCH. 

Isle of Ree. From thence Christopher made his way 
first to Paris, and thence to the place where be wa$ 
touched, in the beginning of November following, by 
the eldest lineal Descendant of a race of Kings, who 
had, indeed, for a long succession of ages, cured that 
distemper by the Royal Touch. But this descendant 
and next heir of their blood had not, at least at that 
time, been crowned or anointed. The usual effect, 
however, followed : from the moment that the man 
was touched and invested with the narrow riband, to 
which a small piece of silver was pendant, according 
to the rites prescribed in the office appointed by the 
Church for that solemnity, the humour dispersed in- 
sensibly, his sores healed up, and he recovered strength 
daily, till he arrived in perfect health, in the begin- 
ning of January following, at Bristol, having spent 
only four months and some few days in his voyage. 
There it was, and in the week preceding St. Paul's 
fair, that I saw the man, in his recovered vigour of 
body, without any remains of his complaint, but what 
were to be seen in the red scars then left upon the 
five places where the sharp humour had found a vent, 
but which were otherwise entirely healed, and as 
sound as any other part of his body. Dr. Lane, an 
eminent physician in the place, whom I visited on my 
arrival, told me of this cure, as the most wonderful 
thing that ever happened ; and pressed me as well to 
see the man upon whom it was performed, as to talk 
about his case with Mr. Samuel Pye, a very skilful 



GEORGE I. 153 

surgeon, and I believe still living in that city, who had 
tried in vain, for three years together, to cure the 
man by physical remedies. I had an opportunity of 
doing both ; and Mr. Pye, after dining together, car- 
rying me to the man, I examined and informed my- 
self fully of all particulars, relating as well to his illness 
as his cure; and found upon the whole, that if it is 
not to be deemed miraculous, it at least deserved the 
character given it by Dr. Lane, of being one of the 
most wonderful events that has ever happened." 



154 ROYAL TOUCH, 



APPENDIX, No. I. 

The Ceremonies for the Healing of them 
that he diseased with the King's Evil, as 
they were practised in the time of King 
Henry VII*. 

Rubrick. — First, the King, kneeling, shall 
begin, and say, 

In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus 
Sancti. Amen. 

Rubrick. — And so soon as He hath said 
that, He shall say, Benedicite. 

Rubrick. — The Chaplain, kneeling before 
the King, having a stole about his neck, 
shall answer, and say, 

Dominus sit in corde tuo et labiis tuis, ad 
confitendum omnia peccata tua, in nomine 
Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen. 

Rubrick. — Or else to say, 

Jesus nos exaudiat, in nomine Patris, et 
Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. 

* Published by Command of King Charles II. ; and printed 
by Henry Hills, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty, 
for his Household and Chapel, 1686. 



CEREMONIES. 155 

Rubrich. — Then by and by the King shall 
say, Confiteor Deo, Beatse Marlse Virgin!, 
Omnibus Sanctis, et Vobis, quia peccavi 
nimis in cogitatione, loeutione, et opere, mea 
culpa [sic ] Precor Sanctam Mariam, omnes 
Sanctos Dei, et Vos, orare pro me. 

Rubrich — The Chaplain shall answer, 
and say, 

Misereatur Vestri Omnipotens Deus, et 
demittat Vobis omnia peccata Vestra, liberet 
Vos ab omni malo, salvet et confirmet in 
bono, et ad vitam perducat seternam. Amen. 

Absolutionem et Remissionem omnium 
peccatorum Vestrorum, spatium verae poeni- 
tentise, et emendationem vitse, gratiam et 
consolationem Sancti Spiritus, tribuat Vobis 
omnipotens et misericors Dominus. Amen. 

Rubrich. — This done, the Chaplain shall 
say, Dominus Vobiscum. 

Rubrich. — The King shall answer, 

Et cum Spiritu tuo. 

Rubrich, — The Chaplain. 

Sequentia Sancti Evangelii secundum Mar- 
cum. 

Rubrich. — The King shall answer. 

Gloria tibi, Domine. 



156 ROYAL TOUCH. 

Rubrick.— The Chaplain shall read the 
Gospel. 

In illo tempore, recumbentibus undecim 
Discipulis apparuit illis Jesus ; et exprobavit 
incredulitatem eorum, et duritiem cordis, qui 
iis qui viderant eum resurrexisse, non credi- 
derunt. Et dixit eis, Euntes in mundum uni- 
versum, predicate Evangelium omni crea- 
turse. Qui crediderit et baptizatus fuerit, 
salvus erit ; qui vero non crediderit, con- 
demnabitur. Signa autem eos, qui credi- 
derint, haec sequentur : In nomine meo dae- 
monia ejicient, Unguis loquentur novis, ser- 
pentes tollent; et si mortiferum quid bibe- 
rint non eis nocebit; super segros manus 
imponent, et bene [seipsos] habebunt 

Rubrick. — Which clause [super segros, 
&c] the Chaplain repeats as long as the 
King is handling the Sick Person. And in 
the time of the repeating the aforesaid words 
[super segros, &c] the Clerk of the Closet 
shall kneel before the King, having the Sick 
Person upon the right hand, and the Sick 
Person shall likewise kneel before the King ; 
and then the King shall lay his hand upon 
the Sore of the Sick Person. This done, the 



CEREMONIES. 15/ 

Chaplain shall make an end of the Gospel ; 
and in the mean time the Chirurgeon shall 
lead away the Sick Person from the King* 

— Et Dominus quidem Jesus, postquam 
locutus est eis, assumptus est in ccelum, et 
sedet a. dextris Dei. Mi autem profecti, prse- 
dicaverunt ubique, Domino cooperante, et 
sermonem confirmante, sequentibus signis. 

Rubrick. — Then the Chaplain shall begin 
to say again, Dominus Vobiscum. 

Rubrick. — The King shall answer, 

Et cum spiritu tuo. 

Rubrick, — The Chaplain. Initium Sancti 
Evangelii secundum Joannem. 

Rubrick. — The King shall say. 

Gloria tibi, Domine. 

Rubrick. — The Chaplain then shall say 
this Gospel following. 

In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat 
apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum. Hoc 
erat in principio apud Deum. Omnia per 
ipsum facta sunt; et sine ipso factum est 
nihil, quod factum est ; in ipso vita erat, et 
vita erat Lux hominum ; et Lux in tenebris 
lucet, et Tenebrae earn non comprehenderunt. 
Fuit homo missus a Deo, cui nomen erat 



158 ROYAL TOUCH. 

Joannes. Hie venit in testimonium, ut tes- 
timonium perhiberet de lumine, ut omnes 
crederent per ilium. Non erat ille Lux, sed 
ut testimonium perhiberet de lumine. Erat 
Lux vera quae illuminat omnem hominem 
venientem in hunc mundum. 

Rubrick. — Which last clause [Erat Lux 
vera, &c] shall still be repeated so long as 
the King shall be crossing the Sore of the Sick 
Person with an Angel Noble. And the Sick 
Person to have the same Angel hanged about 
his neck, and to wear it until he be full whole. 

This done, the Chirurgeon shall lead away 
the Sick Person, as he did before; and then the 
Chaplain shall make an end of the Gospel. 

— In mundo erat, et mundus per ipsum 
factus est, et mundus eum non cognovit. In 
propria venit, et sui eum non receperunt. 
Quot quot autem receperunt eum dedit eis 
potestatem filios Dei fieri, his, qui credunt in 
nomine ejus, qui non ex sanguinibus, neque 
ex voluntate carnis, neque ex voluntate viri, 
sed ex Deo nati sunt. Et Verbum caro fac- 
tum est, et habitavit in nobis ; et vidimus 
gloriam ejus, gloriam quasi unigeniti a Patre. 
plenum gratise et veritatis. 



CEREMONIES. 159 

Rubrich.-— Then the Chaplain shall say. 

Sit nomen Domini benedictum. 

Rubrick. — The King shall answer, 

Ex hoc nunc et usque in seculum. 

Rubrick.- — Then shall the Chaplain say 
this Collect following, praying for the Sick 
Person or Persons. 

Domine exaudi orationem meam [nostram]* 

Rubrick.--— The King shall answer, 

Et clamor meus [noster] ad te veniat. 
Oremus. 

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, salus astern a 
credentium, exaudi nos pro famulis tuis, pro 
quibus misericordiae tuee imploramus aux- 
ilium, ut, reddita sibi sanitate, tibi in Eccle- 
sia tua referant actiones. Per Christum Do* 
minum nostrum. Amen. 

Rubrick. — This Prayer is to be said se- 
cretly, after the Sick Persons are departed 
from the King, at his pleasure* 

Dominator Domine Deus OmnipotOns* 
cujus benignitate ceeci vident, surdi audiunt, 
muti loquuntur, claudi ambulant, leprosi mun- 
dantnr, omnes infirmorum curantur Ian- 
guores, et a quo solo donum Sanationis hu* 
mano generi etiam tribuitur, et tanta gratia 



160 ROYAL TOUCH. 

pro incredibili tua erga hoc regnum boni- 
tate, Regibus ejusdem concessa est, ut sola 
manuum illorum impositione, morbus gravis- 
simus foetidissimusque depellatur : concede 
propitius ut tibi propterea gratias agamus, et 
pro isto singulari beneficio in nos collator non 
nobis ipsis, sed nomini tuo assidue gloriam 
demus, nosque sic ad pietatem semper exer- 
eeamus, ut tuam nobis donatam gratiam 
non solum diligenter conservare, sed indies 
magis magisque adaugere laboremus ; et 
praesta ut quorumcunque corporibus in no- 
mine tuo manus imposuerimus, hac tua vir- 
tute in illis operante et nobis ministrantibus, 
ad pristinam sanitatem restituantur, earn con- 
servent, et pro eadem tibi, ut summo Medico 
et omnium morborum depulsori, perpetuo no- 
biscum gratias agant ; sicque deinceps vitam 
instituant, ut non corpus solum ab infirmitate, 
sed anima etiam a peccato omnino sanata 
videatur. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum 
Christum Filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et 
regnat in unitate Sancti Spiritus, per omnia 
secula seculorum, Amen. * 

* " Ritualia Varia," in the British Museum. 



Ceremonies, i61 



APPENDIX, No. II. 

From a Folio Prayer Book, printed 1710* 

At the Healing, 

Prevent us, O Lord, &c. 
Gospel. 

From the 16th Chapter of St. Mark, be- 
ginning at the 14th Verse : " Afterwards he 
appeared, &c." to the end of the Chapter: 
" and confirming the Word with Signs fol- 
lowing." 

Let us pray. 

Lord have mercy upon us. 

Christ, &c. 

Lord, &c. 

Our Father, &c. 

Muhrick. — [Then shall the Infirm Persons, 
one by one, be presented to the Queen upon 
their Knees ; and, as every one is presented, 
and while the Queen is laying her Hands 
upon them, and putting the Gold about their 
necks, the Chaplain that officiates, turning 

M 



162 ROYAL TOUCH. 

himself to her Majesty, shall say these words 
following :] 

God give a Blessing to this Work; and 
grant that these Sick Persons, on whom the 
Queen lays her Hands, may recover, through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Hubrich. — [After all have been presented, 
the Chaplain shall say,] 

Verse. — O Lord, save thy Servants ; 

Resp. — Who put their Trust in Thee. 

Verse. — Send them Help from thy Holy 
Place. 

Resp. — And evermore mightily defend 
them. 

Verse. — Help us, O God of our Salvation. 

Resp. — And, for the Glory of thy Name 
deliver us, and be merciful to us Sinners for 
thy Name's Sake. 

Verse.— O Lord, hear our Prayers. 

Resp. — And let our Cry come unto Thee. 

Rubrick. — [These answers are to be made 
by them that come to be healed.] 
Let us pray. 

O Almighty God, who art the Giver of all 
Health, and the Aid of them that seek to 



CEREMONIES. 163 

thee for Succour, we call upon thee for thy 
Health and Goodness mercifully to be shewed 
upon these thy Servants, that they, being 
healed of their Infirmities, may give Thanks 
unto thee in thy Holy Church, through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Rubrick. — [Then the Chaplain, standing 
with his face towards them that come to be 
healed, shall say,] 

The Almighty Lord, who is a most strong 
Tower to all them that put their Trust in 
him ; to whom all things in Heaven, in 
Earth, and under the Earth, do bow and obey, 
be now and evermore your Defence; and make 
you know and feel, that there is none other 
Name under Heaven given to Man, in whom, 
and through whom, you may receive Health 
and Salvation, but only the Name of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. Amen. 

The Grace of our Lord, &c. Amen. 



m 2 



164 CEREMONIES OF 



APPENDIX, No. III. 

The Ceremonies of Blessing Cramp-Rings 
on Good-Friday, used hy the Catholick 
Kings of England. 

The Psalme "Deus misereatur nostri," &c. 
with the " Gloria Patri." 

May God take pity upon us, and blesse 
us ; * may he send forth the light of his face 
upon us, and take pity on us. 

That we may know thy wayB on earth * 
among all nations thy salvation. 

May people acknowledge thee, O God : * 
may all people acknowledge thee* 

Let nations reioice, and be glad, because 
thou iudgest people with equity, * and doest 
guide nations on the earth. 

May people acknowledge thee, O God, 
may all people acknowledge thee, * the earth 
has sent forth her fruit. 

May God blesse us, that God who is ours : 



BLESSING CRAMP - RINGS. 



165 



may that God blesse us, * and may all the 
bounds of the earth feare him. 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * 
and to the Holy Ghost. 

As it was in the beginning, and now, and 
ever, * and for ever, and ever. Amen. 

Then the King reades this Prayer : 

Almighty eternal God, who by the most 
copious gifts of thy grace, flowing from the 
unexhausted fountain of thy bounty, hast 
been graciously pleased, for the comfort of 
mankind, continually to grant us many and 
various meanes to relieve us in our miseries ; 
and art willing to make those the instruments 
and channels of thy gifts, and to grace those 
persons with more excellent favours, whom 
thou hast raised to the Royal dignity ; to the 
end that, as by Thee they Reign, and govern 
others, so by Thee they may prove beneficial 
to them, and bestow thy favours on the peo- 
ple : Graciously heare our prayers, and fa- 
vourably receive those vows we powre forth 
with humility, that Thou mayst grant to us, 
who beg with the same confidence the favour 
which our Ancestours, by their hopes in thy 



16b* CEREMONIES OF 

mercy have obtained : through Christ our 
Lord. Amen. 

The Rings lying in one bason or more, 
this prayer is to be said over them : 

O God, the Maker of heavenly and earthly 
creatures, and the most gracious Restorer of 
mankind, the Dispenser of spiritual grace, and 
the Origin of all blessings; send dovvne from 
heaven thy Holy Spirit the Comforter upon 
these Rings, artificially fram'd by the work- 
man ; and by thy greate power purify them 
so, that all the malice of the fowle and ve- 
nomous Serpent be driven out; and so the 
metal, which by Thee was created, may re- 
maine pure, and free from all dregs of the 
enemy : through Christ our Lord. Amen. 
The Blessing of the Rings. 

O God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of 
Jacob, heare mercifully our prayers. Spare 
those who feare Thee. Be propitious to thy 
suppliants ; and graciously be pleased to send 
downe from Heaven thy holy Angel, that he 
may sanctify >J« and blesse >j< these Rings ; to 
the end they may prove a healthy remedy to 
such as implore thy name with humility, and 



BLESSING CRAMP -RINGS. 167 

accuse themselves of the sins which ly upon 
their conscience: who deplore their crimes 
in the sight of thy divine clemency, and be- 
seech, with earnestness and humility, thy 
most serene piety. May they in fine, by the 
invocation of thy holy name, become profita- 
ble to all such as weare them, for the health 
of their soule and body, through Christ our 
Lord. Amen. 

A Blessing. 
O God, who hast manifested the greatest 
wonders of thy power by the cure of diseases, 
and who were pleased that Rings should be 
a pledge of fidelity in the Patriark Judah, a 
priestly ornament in Aaron, the mark of a 
faithful guardian in Darius, and in this King- 
dom a remedy for divers diseases ; graciously 
be pleased to blesse *f* and sanctify ^ these 
Rings ; to the end that all such who weare 
them may be free from all snares of the Devil, 
may be defended by the power of celestial 
armour; and that no contraction of the nerves, 
or any danger of the falling-sickness, may in- 
test them ; but that in all sort of diseases by 
thy help they may find relief. In the name 



168 CEREMONIES OF 

of the Father, ^ and of the Son, ^ and of 
the Holy Ghost. >J< Amen. 

Blesse, O my soule, the Lord, * and let 
all things which are within me praise his 
holy name. 

Blesse, Q my soule, the Lord, # and da 
not forget all his favours. 

He forgives all thy iniquities, * he heales 
all thy infirmities. 

He redeemes thy life from ruin, # he 
crownes thee with mercy and commiseration. 

He fils thy desires with what is good : * 
thy youth, like that of the eagle, shall be re- 
newed. 

The Lord is he who does mercy, $ and does 
iustice to those who suffer wrong. 

The merciful and pitying Lord : * the long 
sufferer, and most mighty merciful. 

He wil not continue his anger for ever; * 
neither wil he threaten for ever. 

He has not dealt with us in proportion tot 
our sins ; * nor has he rendered unto us ac- 
cording to our offences. 

Because according to the distance of heaven 
from earth, f so has he enforced his mercies 
upon those who feare him. 



BLESSING CRAMP - RINGS. 169 

As far distant as the east is from the west, * 
so far has he divided our offences from us. 

After the manner that a Father takes pity 
of his sons ; so has the Lord taken pity of 
those who feare him : # because he knows 
what we are made of. 

He remembers that we are but dust. Man, 
like hay, such are his days; * like the flower 
in the field, so wil he fade away. 

Because his breath wil passe away through 
him, and he wil not be able to subsist, * and 
it wil find no longer its owne place. 

But the mercy of the Lord is from all 
eternity; * and wil be for ever upon those 
who feare him. 

And his iustice comes upon the children of 
their children, * to those who keep his wil. 

And are mindful of his commandments, * 
to performe them. 

The Lord in heaven has prepared himself 
a throne, and his kingdom shall reign over 
all. 

Blesse yee the Lord, all yee Angels of his ; 
yee who are powerful in strength ; * who 
execute his commands, at the hearing of his 
voice when he speakes. 



1^0 CEREMONIES OP 

Blesse yee the Lord, all yee vertues of his : * 
yee Ministers who execute his wil. 

Blesse yee the Lord, all yee works of his 
throughout all places of his dominions : * my 
Soule praise thou the Lord. 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * 
and to the Holy Ghost. 

As it was in the beginning, and now and 
ever, * and for ever and ever. Amen. 

Wee humbly implore, O merciful God, 
thy infinit clemency; that as we come to 
Thee with a confident soule, and sincere faith, 
and a pious assurance of mind : with the like 
devotion thy beleevers may follow on these 
tokens of thy grace. May all superstition be 
banished hence ; far be all suspicion of any 
diabolical fraud; and to the glory of thy 
name let all things succeede : to the end thy 
beleevers may understand Thee to be the dis- 
penser of all good ; and may be sensible, and 
publish, that whatsoever is profitable to soule 
or body, is derived from Thee : through Christ 
our Lord. Amen. 

These Prayers being said, the King's High- 
nes rubbeth the Rings between his hands, 
saying, 



BLESSING CRAMP -RINGS. 1/1 

Sanctify, O Lord, these Rings, and gra- 
ciously bedew them with the dew of thy bene- 
diction, and consecrate them by the rubbing 
of our hands, which thou hast been pleased 
according to our ministery to sanctify by an 
external effusion of holy oyle upon them : to 
the end that what the nature of the mettal 
Is not able to performe, may be wrought 
by the greatnes of thy grace : through Christ 
our Lord. Amen. 

Then must holy water be cast on the Rings, 
saying, 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. 

O Lord, the only begotten Son of God, 
Mediatour of God and men, Jesus Christ, in 
whose name alone salvation is sought for : 
and to such as hope in thee givest an easy 
acces to thy Father : who, when conversing 
among men, thyself a man, didst promise, by 
an assured oracle flowing from thy sacred 
mouth, that thy Father should grant what- 
ever was asked him in thy name: Lend a gra- 
cious eare of pity to these prayers of ours ; to 
the end that, approaching with confidence to 
the throne of thy grace, the beleevers mav 



1/2 BLESSING CRAMP - RINGS. 

find, by the benefits conferred upon them, that 
by thy mediation we have obtained what we 
have most humbly begd in thy name : who 
lives t and reignest with God the Father, in 
the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God for 
ever and ever. Amen. 

Wee beseech thee, O Lord, that the Spirit, 
which proceedes from thee, may prevent and 
follow on our desires : to the end that what 
we beg with confidence for the good of the 
faithful, we may efficaciously obiaine by thy 
gracious gift : through Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 

O most clement God ; Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost; wee supplicate and beseech 
thee, that what is here performed by pious 
ceremonies to the sanctifying of thy name, 
may be prevalent to the defense of our soule 
and body on earth ; and profitable to a more 
ample felicity in heaven : who livest and 
reignest God, world without end. Amen. 



173 

J&emmata JHagiiatumu 

ORIGIN OF THE TITLES 

OF SOME OF THE 

ENGLISH NOBILITY. 



" When Adam dolve, and Eva span, 
Who was then a Gentleman ? 
Then came the Churle, and gather' d Good; 
And thence arose the Gentle Blood." 

" It is an ancient received saying, that there is no 
Poverty but is descended of Nobility; nor no Nobility 
but is descended of Beggary." 

History of the Gwedir Family, p. 94. 



Westmoreland, Earl. ■ — From the 
County. 

Burghersh*, Baron (Fane). — Bartho- 
lomew, Baron of Burghersh, was the Tenth 

* A corruption of Burghwash ; a little Village in 
Sussex, on the River Rother. See Camden's Brit. 



1/4 ORIGIN OP THE TITLES 

Knight of the Order of the Garter, at the 
Institution 1350 ; who left a Daughter and 
Heir, who married Edward Le Despenser ; 
which official Title was afterwards erected 
into a Barony by Summons, A. D. 1285 ; 
and was for a long time merged in the Fa- 
mily of Fane, Earl of Westmoreland, till the 
failure of Male Issue in a direct line, 1/62. 
The Earldom and Barony of Burghersh 
passed to a distant branch, of the name of 
Fane ; but the Barony of Le Despenser went 
by a Female to Sir Francis Dashwood, Bart, 
in right of his Mother. 

Le Despenser, Baron (Stapeeton). — 
A nominal Title from official derivation. It 
was held originally by Descent and Summons, 
AD. 1295. Anno 23 Edward I. it passed by 
Marriage to the Earl of Westmoreland ; and, 
being a Fee, descended to Sir Francis Dash- 
wood, Bart. ; and after him to his Sister, 
Lady Austen, and now, 1788, is vested 
in Sir Thomas Stapleton, Bart, of Oxford- 
shire. 



OF ENGLISH NOBILITY. 175 

Wentworth * , Viscount (Noel). — 
After the Barony of Wentworth had con- 
tinued for several successions in the name of 
Wentworth, of Nettlestead in Suffolk, the 
Title devolved on Anne, the Wife of John 
Lord Lovelace, whose Daughter Martha 
inherited the Barony of Wentworth, and to 
whom the Title was confirmed, hy Descent, 
in Parliament, A.D. 1/02; and she walked at 
the Coronation of Queen Anne as Baroness 
Wentworth in her own right. She dying 
without Issue, 1J"45, the Title devolved on the 
Descendants of Sir William Noel, Bart, who 
had married Margaret, another Daughter of 
Lord Lovelace, by Anne, the Heiress of 
Wentworth Lord Wentworth. Hence the 
Title passed to Edward, the eldest Son of 
Sir Ciobery Noel, Bart, who succeeded to his 
Father's Title of Baronet, 1733 ; and to the 
Barony of Wentworth, as Heir of Margaret, 

* The Ancestor of this Family was Thomas Went- 
worth, Earl of Cleveland ; which Title became extinct, 
for want of Male Issue, 1667. The Barony passed as 

above. 



\%6 ORIGIN OF THE TITLES 

1/45. He was created Viscount Wentwortli 
of Wellesborough, co. Leic. 1762. 

Ho we and, Baron (Russell).— A Ba- 
rony in the Duke of Bedford, granted in 
honour of Elizabeth, Daughter of John 
Howland, Esq. of Streatham in Surrey (by 
whom the Family acquired that estate), who 
married Wriothesley, Grandson of the first 
Duke of Bedford, and the eldest Son of Lord 
William Russell, who was beheaded 1 683 *. 

Normanby, Marquis, extinct (Shef- 
field). — The second Title of Sheffield 
Duke of Buckingham, taken from an ob- 
scure place in Lincolnshire. 

Chandos, Duke (Brydges). — The Pa- 
tent is dated April 29, 17 1 9, wherein the 
Grantee is styled " Duke of Chandos in the 
County of Hereford." The Dukedom became 
extinct, by the death of James the third Duke, 
s. p. 1789. The Barony exists (1790), if a 
claim to it can be established, as that creation 
bears date A. D. 1554. 

* See Collinses Baronage, i. 267, 272. 



OF ENGLISH NOBILITY. 177 

Arundel of W ardour, Baron (Arun- 
del *). — From Wardour Castle in Wiltshire. 
He is a Count of the Empire by Grant of 
Rodolphll. A.D.I 595 f. 



Sondes, Baron (Watson).— A revived 
Title, from the inheritance of part of the es- 
tates of Lewis Watson, Earl of Rockingham 
and Viscount Sondes. Lewis Watson, having 
married the Heiress of Sir George Sondes, 
K. B. was created Earl of Rockingham and 
Viscount Sondes, in honour of his Wife's 
Father, 1/14; so that the present Title is 
nominal. The Estate at Lees- Court in Kent 
came by the above marriage. 

Onslow and Cranley, Baron (Onslo w). 
— This Barony is both nominal and local, 
for the Family came from Onslow in Shrop- 
shire. Their first settlement in Surrey w r as 
at Knowle, in the Parish of Cranley, whence 

* See Camden's Britannia, col. 112. 

f See Camden, for the words of the Patent. 

N 



1^8 ORIGIN OF THE TITLES 

came the second Barony by creation to George 
Onslow, the Son of Arthur (the Speaker), in 
the life-time of his Cousin Richard, then 
Lord Onslow, 177 ®- The original Patent, 
171 6, to Richard (who was Speaker also) 
the eldest Son of Sir Arthur Onslow, Bart. 
was limited to the Heirs Male of his Father, 
which carried the Title of Baron Onslow of 
Onslow and Clendon *, to the Son of Arthur 
(the Speaker), on the death of his Cousin 
Richard Lord Onslow, 1776 f. 

N. B. George Lord Onslow and Cranley 
was created into the latter Title, May 14, 
1776; and succeeded his Cousin Richard in 
the Title of Onslow, on the 8th of the fol- 
lowing October. 

Berkeley, EarL — From Berkeley Cas- 
tle, the present Seat of the Family, in Glou- 
cestershire. The Barony of Berkeley is a 
Feudal Honour by the Tenure of the Castle 
of Berkeley ; and the Possessor of it had 

* Clendon is the Seat of the Family in Surrey. 
f See Camden's Brit. col. 182, as to the Family, 



OF ENGLISH NOBILITY. 179 

Summons to Parliament as a Baron by that 
Tenure, anno 23 Edward I. * 

Dursley, Viscount. — From Dursley in 
Gloucestershire, the original Seat of the 
Family. 



De Clifford, Baron (Southwell).— 
From Clifford Castle in Herefordshire ; where 
Walter Fitz -Ponce, whose Father possessed 
it by marriage, resided, and took the name 
of Clifford. The first Fitz -Ponce came hither 
with the Conqueror, to whom he was related. 
The Barony passed in the Female Line to 
the Family of Southwell, to which it was 
confirmed A. D. 177^. The first Summons 
to Parliament was anno 23 Edward I. 1295. 



Ducie, Baron, of Morton and Tort- 
worth (Reynolds). — The Peer of the 
name of Ducie was descended from Sir 
Robert Ducie, Lord Mayor of London, 1631 ; 

* Dale's Catalogue of the Nobility* 1697, p. 72. 

n2 



180 ORIGIN OF THE TITLES 

and who had been created a Baronet*. The 
Issue Male of the name of Ducie failing, the 
Title was renewed by Patent, 1763, to 
Matthew Ducie, Lord Ducie of Morton in 
Staffordshire ; with a Limitation to Thomas 
and Francis Reynolds, his Nephews, and 
their Heirs Male successively, by the Style 
of Lord Ducie of Tortworth in Gloucester- 
shire. Thomas Reynolds succeeded to this 
Title on the death of his Uncle, 177° ; an( * 
dying without Issue 1785, it devolved on his 
Brother Francis ; who dying in 1808, was 
succeeded by his Son Thomas, present Lord 
Ducie. 

Powis, Earl (Herbert). — Powis is a 
part of Shropshire bordering on Wales; and 
was formerly a little Kingdom, still known 
by the name of Powis-Land. The first Ba- 
ron was created by Henry I. on a surrender 
of the actual Territory, and an acknowledg- 
ment of service *f\ 

* Pennant's London, fourth edition, p. 346. 
f Pennant's Tour in North Wales, vol. II. p. 436. 



OF ENGLISH NOBILITY. 181 

Ludlow, Viscount. — From the Town of 
that name in Shropshire '*. 



Audley, Baron (Thicknesse-Touchet). 
Audley is in Staffordshire. John Touchet 
married Joan, eldest Daughter of Lord Aud- 
ley of Heleigh, whose Descendant was found 
Heir, and had Summons to Parliament, A. D. 
1296 f. The honour of Peerage in the name 
of Touchet, who was also Earl of Castle - 
haven in Ireland, ended in a Daughter (Lady 
Elizabeth), who married Philip Thicknesse, 
Esq. and died in 1762, leaving Issue; the 
Barony (being a Fee) passed to George 
Thicknesse, her Son, on the death of the 
Earl of Castlehaven, 1777? an( l wno nas 
taken, by sign -manual, 1/84, the additional 
name of Touchet. The Earldom is extinct. 



Abergavenny, Earl (Nevile). — This 
is a Title derived from a Lord Marcher, and 
taken, among many others now merged or 

* The Barony of Herbert of Cherbury was revived 
in this Branch in 1743. t Collins' s Peerage* 



182 ORIGIN OP THE TITLES 

extinct, from the place conquered. Mr. 
Pennant says, it is the only surviving Title of 
that nature*. 

Nevile, Viscount. — From the Name. 



Middjleton, Baron (Wileoughby). — 
From an obscure Village, near Sutton-Cold- 
field, in Warwickshire + . 



Coventry, Earl. — From the City, or 
the Name. 

Deerhurst, Viscount (Coventry). — 
From a place in Gloucestershire. 



Stanhope, Earl. — A nominal Title. The 
first Peer of this Branch was created Viscount 
Stanhope of Mahon, and Baron Stanhope of 
Elvaston, in the County of Derby, VJVJ ^ 
from his having taken Port-Mahon, in the 
Island of Minorca, lfOS. 

* Tour in North Wales, vol. II. p. 439, 4to. 
f Pennant's Journey from Chester to London, 4to, 
1782, p. 127. 



OF ENGLISH NOBILITY. 183 

Mahon, Viscount (Stanhope). — The 
same Peer was created Earl Stanhope 1J 18, 
by which his second Title became " Viscount 
Mahon." 



Dudley and Ward, Viscount (Ward). 
— The Barony of Ward is nominal, and was 
conferred in 1644. The Viscounty (by crea- 
tion in 1763) is derived from a Village near 
Birmingham in Warwickshire. 

N. B. The Viscounty includes both Ho- 
nours; the Title being Viscount Dudley and 
Ward. 



Dorchester, Earl (Damer). — Lord 
Milton, a Baron both of England and Ireland, 
was created Earl of Dorchester in Dorset- 
shire, 1792. 

Milton, Viscount. — From Milton Ab- 
bey, the Seat of the Family, in Dorsetshire. 
The Title of Viscount was granted by the 
Patent in 1792. 



184 ORIGIN OF THE TITLES 

Dorchester, Baron * (Carleton). — 
Sir Guy Carleton, K. B. was created Baron 
of Dorchester in Oxfordshire, 17&6. Sir 
Dudley Carleton was created Baron Carleton 
1626, and Viscount Dorchester in Oxford- 
shire 1628. It is, however, denied by the 
Heralds that Sir Guy is of that Family. 



Leeds, Duke (Osborne). — From the 
Town of Leeds in Yorkshire. 

Carmarthen, Marquis. — From Car- 
marthen in Wales. 

Danby, Earl. — From a Castle of the 
name in Cleveland, a District of Yorkshire. 



Albemarle, Earl. — otherwise Aumerle, 
and Aumale [Albo Maria, or White Marie], 
from a Town in Normandy, which gave Title 
to a Peer of France. It was conferred by 
William III. when at war with Louis XIV. 

* The Marquisate of Dorchester, which was in the 
late Dukes of Kingston, was from Dorchester, Dorset, 



OF ENGLISH NOBILITY. 185 

Bury, Viscount (Keppel). — In Suffolk* 



Harrington, Earl (Stanhope*). — From 
a Village in Northamptonshire. 

Petersham, Viscount (Stanhope). — 
A Village near Richmond in Surrey f . 

Suffolk, Earl.— -From the County. 

Bindon, Viscount (Howard). — In Dor- 
setshire. It was the Seat of Lord Marney 
(A. D. 1607); and came to this Branch of 
the Family of Howard by a Marriage with 
the Heiress of Lord Marney J. 



Shipbrooke, Viscount. — Richard Ver- 
non was possessed of the Barony of Ship- 

* Sir Michael Stanhope, of Harington in Nor- 
thamptonshire, was the common Ancestor of the 
Earls of Chesterfield and of Harrington ; as also of 
Earl Stanhope. 

t At Petersham was a Villa belonging to the Earl 
of Rochester, which was burnt down in 1721 ; after 
which the Earl of Harrington possessed and took it 
for his second Title in 1742. 

J Camden, col. 57. • 



186 ORIGIN OF THE TITLES 

broke, in Cheshire, in the time of Richard 
the First *. 

Orwell, Baron (Vernon). —Vernon, 
Baron of Shipbroke, was one of the Barons 
(of the Palatinate of Chester) created by 
Hugh Lupus, the first Norman Earl pf 
Chester. Extinct f. 



Beaulieu, Earl ; Beaulieu, Baron 
(Hussey-Montague). — Beaulieu is an Ab- 
bey in Hampshire, and was part of the Estate 
of John (Montagu) Duke of Montagu, in- 
herited by his Daughter and Co-heiress the 
Duchess of Manchester, who married Sir 
Edward Hussey, K. B. Upon this marriage 
he took the additional name of Montague, 



Vernon, Baron (Vernon), — - The Title 
is nominal and local, from Vernon in Nor- 
mandy J. The Descent is from Ham on de 
Massie-Venables, of Kinderton, in Cheshire, 

* Pennant's Journey from Chester , 1782, p. 19. 
f Pennant's Tour in North Wales, 1778, p. 125. 
% Collins's Peerage, 1779. 



OP ENGLISH NOBILITY. 18? 

who was one of Hugh Lupus's Palatinate 
Barons, as Earl of Chester. 



Harcourt, Earl. — The Title is from the 
Name, which is local, from a Town in Nor- 
mandy, and which is also the Title of a 
French Dukedom. 

Nuneham, Viscount (Harcourt). — 
From the Earl's Seat in Oxfordshire. The 
Earldom was erected in 1^49. 



Grafton, Duke. — From a Village in 
Northamptonshire, which was erected into 
an Honour, and conferred hy King Charles 
II. on his Natural Son by the Duchess of 
Cleveland. 

Efston, Earl (Fitzroy). — From the 
Seat in Suffolk. 



Devonshire, Duke (Cavendish). — 
From the County. Descended from a Gen- 
tleman Usher to Cardinal Wolsey *. 

* See Cavendish's Life of Wolsey. Collins's CoL 
lections. 



188 ORIGIN OF THE TITLES 

Hartington, Marquis (Cavendish). — 
From an obscure Village (the Property of the 
Duke) in the Peak of Derbyshire. 



Dorset, Duke. — From the County. Sir 
Lionel Cranfield, Knight, Lord Cranfield, 
&c. was a Shop-keeper in London, as his 
Father had been before him *. 



Effingham, Earl (Howard). — From 
Effingham in Surrey, a Seat of this Branch 
of the Family, and where there was a Castle. 



Sussex, Earl. — From the County. 

Longueville, Viscount (Yelverton). 
— Sir Henry Yelverton, the Second Baronet, 
married Susan Baroness Grey of Ruthyn, 
Daughter and sole Heiress of Charles 
Longueville, Lord Grey of Ruthyn. To this 
Title the eldest Son of Sir Henry succeeded 
on the death of his Mother (being a Barony 
in Fee) ; and was followed by his Brother 

% Bibl. Top. Brit. vol. VI. No XV. from D'Ewes's 
MS Journal in the British Museum. 



OF ENGLISH NOBILITY. 189 

Henry, who was created Viscount Longue- 
ville 1690. Talbot Yelverton, the eldest 
Son of Henry, was created Earl of Sussex 
in I717. 



Beaufort, Duke. — Henry Beaufort, 
third Duke of Somerset, temp. Henry VII. 
had a Natural Son, to whom he gave the 
names of Charles Somerset (afterwards a 
Knight), whose Descendant was created 
Duke of Beaufort. Thus, by a Child of 
Casualty, the Name and Title have changed 
positions ; as what was Beaufort Duke of 
Somerset is now Somerset Duke of Beau- 
fort. 

Worcester, Marquis (Somerset). From 
the City. 



Manchester, Duke. — From the Town. 

Mandeville, Viscount (Montagu). — 
A nominal Title from Geoffrey de Man- 
deville, who possessed Kimbolton, the Seat 
of the Family, temp. Guil. Conq. * 

* Kelham's Key to Domesday Book, p. 35. 



190 ORIGIN OF THE TITLES 

Mandeville is a Village in Normandy (a 
corruption of Magnaville, i. e. Magna Villa) j 
which gave name to the person who accom- 
panied William the Conqueror *. 



Waldegrave, Earl. — Waldegrave is a 
Village in Northamptonshire. 

Chewton, Viscount (Waldegrave). — » 
From a place in Somersetshire f . 



Mount - Edgecumbe, Earl. — Baron 
Edgecumbe by Creation, 1742. Earl of 
Mount-Edgecumbe by Creation, 1789. From 
the Family Seat in Cornwall. 

Valletort, Viscount (Edgecumbe). — - 
From an old Norman Barony (De Valle 
Torta), with Lands annexed, in Devonshire, 
the property of the Family J. 



Gainsborough, Earl. — From the Town. 
Campden, Viscount (Noel). — Campden 
is in Gloucestershire. 

* Vincent on Brooke. 

t Camden's Britannia, col. 85. % Ibid. col. 21, 



OF ENGLISH NOBILITY. 191 

Sir Baptist Hicks, created Viscount Camp- 
den 1628, left two Daughters, the elder of 
whom married Lord Noel, one of whose De- 
scendants (Edward) w T as created Earl of 
Gainsborough 1682. 

Digby, Earl.— This Title, when a Ba- 
rony, was nominal (though local in itself, 
from Digby, co. Lincoln) till Henry, the late 
Peer, was created Earl of Digby in 1790. 
He dying in 17^3, was succeeded by Edward 
the present Earl. 

Coleshill, Viscount (Digby). — In 
Warwickshire. The Manor of Coleshill was 
forfeited by Sir Simon Montfort, on a charge 
of High Treason in supporting Perkin War- 
beck ; when it w r as given to Simon Digby, 
then Deputy Constable of Coleshill Castle *. 

Montagu, or Montacute, Viscount 
(Browne). — From a high Hill in a Village 
in Somersetshire ; where William Earl of 
Moreton, Maternal Brother to William the 

* Pennant's Journey from Chester, p. 129. 



192 ORIGIN OF THE TITLES 

Conqueror, built a Castle, which, as it rises 
from its base to a sharp point, he called 
Mons acutus. Thus far the tradition ; and 
Bishop Gibson, in his Edition of Camden's 
Britannia, allows this to have been the place 
from which Sir Anthony Browne, the first 
Viscount, had the Title *. 

Rutland, Duke. — From the County. 

Granby, Marquis (Manners). — From a 
Village in Nottinghamshire. 

The Barony of Roos of Hamlakef gives 
Title to the eldest Son of a Marquis of 
Granby, in his Father's life-time. 

Kent, Duke. — From the County. 

Harold, Earl (Grey), Extinct. — From 
a place of the name in Bedfordshire. 

There was in this Family the Viscounty of 
Gooderich, from Gooderich Castle in Here- 
fordshire. 

* Camden's Britannia, col. 72. 
f Collins, in his Peerage 17 35, says, that Hamlake 
is the same as Hemsley in Yorkshire (North Riding). 



OF ENGLISH NOBILITY. 193 

Abingdon, Earl. — In Berkshire. 

Norreys, Baron (Bertie). — James 
Bertie, the first Earl of Abingdon (who was 
the second Son of Montagu Bertie, the 
second Earl of Lindsey) was the Issue of 
a second Wife ; viz. Bridget Baroness Nor- 
reys of Rycote in her own right. He had 
Summons to Parliament as Baron Norreys 
in 1572, and was created Earl of Abingdon 
in 1682 * 



Dacre, Baron (Romr, late Barrett- 
Leonard).— Originally both nominal and 
local, the first Peer having been Dacre of 
Dacre Castle in Cumberland. 

Being a Barony in Fee, it has had owners 
of different names *j\ 



Godolphin, Earl. — From a Hill (per- 
haps anciently a Seigniory) in Cornwall. 

* See Camden's Britannia, col. 315. 

f There were two Barons of this Title existing at 
the same time ; viz. Lord Dacre of the North, and 
Lord Dacre of the South. Both at length centered in 
Barrett-Leonard Lord Dacre. 

O 



194 ORIGIN OF THE TITLES 

The proper name is Godolcan, corrupted into 
Godolphin. The word signifies, in the 
Cornish language, " White Eagle ;" agree- 
ably to which, the Arms of the Family are, 
" Gules, an Eagle displayed between three 
Fleurs de Lis Argent *." 

Rialton, Viscount. — From a Village in 
Cornwall f . 



Tankerville, Earl. — Originally from a 
Town and Castle in Normandy J. The pre- 
sent Title is derived from Ford Lord Grey 
of Werk, who was created Earl of Tanker- 
ville (a dormant Title in his Family) in 1695. 
This Earl left an only Daughter, who mar- 
ried Charles Bennet, Baron of Ussulston, 
who was afterwards (1714) created Earl of 
Tankerville. 

* See Camden's Britannia, col. 14. 

t On the death of Francis Earl of Godolphin, 1766, 
the Barony devolved to Francis, his first cousin \ and 
on his death, in 1785, became extinct, 

% See Peerage, 1711, vol. II. 



OF ENGLISH NOBILITY. 195 

Ussulston, Baron (Bennet). — From 
one of the Hundreds of Middlesex. 



Arlington* Earl. — The Title was de- 
rived from Arlington in Middlesex, the Seat 
of Sir Henry Bennet, who was created Baron 
Arlington 1664, and Earl of Arlington in 
1672. He died in 1685. 

Thetford, Viscount (Bennet), Extinct. 
— In Norfolk. 



Bridgewater, Duke (Egerton). — The 
Lord Chancellor was the founder of this Fa- 
mily, and was a Natural Son of Sir Richard 
Egerton, Knight, of Ridley in Cheshire, by 
the Daughter of one Sparks of Bickerton *. 



Grey de Wilton, Baron (Egerton). — 
The present Peer (Sir Thomas Egerton, 

* For other circumstances see Mr. Pennant's Tour 
in North Wales, vol. I. p. 105 ; and vol. II. p. 187, in 
the corrections and additions to vol. I. 
o 2 



196 ORIGIN OF THE TITLES 

Bart.) is descended from Bridget, sole Sister 
and Heir to Thomas Lord Grev of Wilton* 
a Female Barony, denominated from Wilton 
in the County of Hereford *. 



Hertford, Earl. — From the Town. 
Beauchamp, Viscount (Conway). — No- 
minal and local, from a place in Normandy. 



Scarborough, Earl. — From Scarbo- 
rough in Yorkshire. 

Lumley, Viscount (Lumley, with the 
additional name of Sanderson). — From 
Lumley Castle, in the Bishoprick of Durham. 



Rivers, Baron (Pitt). — The first of the 
name, De Rtdvers, came hither with Wil- 
liam the Conqueror, and was made Earl of 

* The Barony was conferred upon Sir Thomas 
Egerton by Creation in 1784, notwithstanding his 
claim by Descent. — His Lordship was in 1801 ad- 
vanced to the Titles of Viscount Grey de Wilton, 
and Earl of Wilton. 



OP ENGLISH NOBILITY. 197 

Devonshire. Baldwin de JRedveriis (or Ri- 
veriisj, Earl of Devonshire, had Estates in 
the neighbourhood of Exeter*. 

George Pitt, Ancestor of the present Lord 
Rivers (created in 177^)> married Jane 
Daughter of Savage, Earl Rivers of Rock- 
Savage in Cheshire, Relict of George, the 
sixth Lord Chandps. She brought a large 
Estate to her second Husband, partly as 
Heiress of Savage Earl Rivers, and partly 
from her first Husband. 



Darlington, Earl. — From Darlington, 
in the Bishoprick of Durham. 

Barnard, Viscount (Vane).— From Bar- 
nard-Castle, in the Bishoprick of Durham. 



Brownlow, Baron (Cust). — A nominal 
Title ; for Sir Richard Cust, Bart, married 
Anne Daughter of Sir William Brownlow, 
Bart. Sister, and at length Heir, to John 

* See Tanner's Notitia. — The name is written 
Ridvers, alias Redvers, in Camden's Brit. col. 156. 



198 ORIGIN OF THE TITLES 

Brownlow, Viscount Tyrconnel, of the King- 
dom of Ireland, seated at Belton in Lincoln- 
shire. 



Hawkesbury, Baron (Jenkinson). — 
Though this Family is styled of Walcot in 
Oxfordshire, it was originally seated at 
Hawkesbury in Gloucestershire. 



Heathfielb, Baron (Exiot). — Sir 
George Augustus Eliot, K. B. who com- 
manded at Gibraltar during the celebrated 
Siege, chose this place in Sussex (his pro- 
perty) for his Title. It is said that the 
decisive Battle, called " The Battle of Has- 
tings," was fought on this spot *. 



Camden, Marquis. — From his House at 
Chislehurst in Kent, formerly the residence 
of Camden the celebrated Antiquary, and 
now called Camden Place. 

* East-Bourne Guide, p. 73. 



OF ENGLISH NOBILITY. 199 

Bayham, Viscount (Pratt). — From 
Bayham Abbey, in Sussex, an Estate in the 
Family of Pratt, and now in possession of 
the Marquis. 



Dynevor, Baroness (Rice and De Car- 
donel). — From Dinevawr in Caermarthen- 
shire. She is the Daughter of the first Earl 
Talbot, and Widow of George Rice, Esquire. 
In the year l/"80 the Earl was created Baron 
of Dinevawr, with limitation to his Daughter 
and her Issue male ; and which took place on 
the Earl's death, in 1J"82. She enjoyed the 
Title till her death, 1793, when it descended 
to her eldest Son George Talbot Rice, who, 
in pursuance of the Will of his Grandmother, 
Lady Talbot (whose maiden name was De 
Cardonel), changed his Name, Arms, and 
Crest, to those of De Cardonel only, by Sign 
Manual, in May 1793 [See the Gazette]. * 

* The Baroness had taken the Name and Arms of 
De Cardonel on the death of her Mother in 1787. The 
Barony of Talbot, on the Earl's death, passed to his 
Nephew, though the Earldom became extinct, but 
was afterwards revived. 



200 ORIGIN OF ENGLISH TITLES. 

Newcastle, Duke (Holles). — From 
Sir William Holles, Lord Mayor of London *. 



Holderness, Earl (Darcy), Extinct. — 
For the origin of the Family, see Leland's 
Itinerary, vol. VI. p. 24. 



Northampton, Marquis (Parr), Ex- 
tinct. — For the origin of this Family, see also 
Leland's Itinerary, vol. VIII. p. 96. 



* See Collinses Collections. 



201 



Cngltsfy Armorial Bearings* 



Edward IV. is by Shakespeare made to say 
that he would bear Three fair shining Suns 
on his Target, from the time he is said to 
have seen Three Suns at one time. (Hen. VI. 
Part HI. Act ii. Sc. i.) * 



Mont eagle. — Stanley, Baron of Mont- 
eagle, so entitled for his valour at Flodden 
Field, because his Ancestors bore an Eagle 
for their Crest. Vide Hon. Anglic, p. 109. 



Carey. — In the Reign of Henry V. was 
held, at Smithfield, a Just between Robert 
Carey of the West, Son of Sir John Carey, 
Knight, and a Foreign Knight, of the King- 
dom of Aragon. Carey vanquished the Ara- 
gonese, and took his Coat Armour in lieu 



* Consult Sandford, &c. for his Armorial Bearings, 



202 ENGLISH ARMORIAL BEARINGS. 

of his own ; viz. " Argent, on a Bend Sable, 
Three Roses of the First :" which have ever 
since been borne by the name of Carey, whose 
antient Coat was " Gules, a Chevron be- 
tween Three Swans Proper, one whereof they 
still retain in their Crest *." 

N. B. These are the Arms of Carey ; 
though, from the words " of the West" one 
would think Careiv was intended. But the 
account agrees with the Arms of Viscount 
Falkland. 



Cooper- and Cowper. — Cooper Earl of 
Shaftesbury bears Three Bulls: Cowper Earl 
Cowper does not. 

" The Eagle and Child" having been 
adopted as the Crest of the Earl of Derby, 
its Origin is a circumstance of no small cu* 
riosity. 

Nothing is more common than for a Tenant 
or Dependant to take the Crest of his Lord 
or Chief for a Sign ; which will account for 
the greatest part of the Bulls' Heads, Grif- 

* Stowe's History of London, Book iii. p. 239. 



ENGLISH ARMORIAL BEARINGS. 203 

fins, Falcons, Lions, Boars, &c. in the King- 
dom. Thus from one quarter they straggled 
into different places, as those people who 
had occasion for Signs emigrated from their 
own Counties and Districts. Amongst these 
the Sign in question is one; and is to be found 
in various places that have no present con- 
nexion with the original, the Importer of 
such Device being, perhaps, long since dead. 
This, being the Crest or Cognizance of the 
Stanleys, Earls of Derby, it most probably 
was first used in Lancashire, and the parts 
contiguous, as a Sign. 

I at first conceived it to be a fabulous 
affair; but find, from good and respectable 
authorities, that there is not only probable, 
but substantial History contained in it; as 
the major part of the Estate is derived to 
the Family from the Issue of the very Child 
in question. The first account of this matter 
I shall give from u A Survey of the Isle of 
Man *," of which the Stanleys were for se- 
veral ages Kings and Lords, holding of the 

* By William Sacheverell, Esq. late Governor of 
the Island, printed at London, 1702. 



204 ENGLISH ARMORIAL BEARINGS. 

Kings of England, by Grant of Henry IV. 
(anno 7)> by Homage and the Service of a 
* Cast (of Falcons), payable on Coronations. 
The Stanleys were Kings as much as any 
Tributary King whatsoever, making Laws, 
&c. They appeared on a certain day in 
Royal Array, sitting in a Chair, covered with 
a Royal Cloth and Cushions, with their Vi- 
sage to the East; the Sword borne before 
them, with the point upwards ; with their 
Barons, Knights, Squires, &c. about them. 
Such were the Descendants of the Child we 
are going to speak of more largely. 

Sir John Stanley (temp. Richard II.) 
was a Knight of the greatest fame in mat- 
ters of Chivalry ; who, having been a great 
Traveller, was known for his prowess in most 
parts of Europe. On his return, he was fol- 
lowed by a Frenchman, who challenged the 
whole English Nation. Sir John accepted 
his challenge, fought, and slew him in the 
presence of the King. This addition to his 
fame raised his reputation among the men, 
and procured him so much favour with the 

* i. e. Two Falcons. Dugdale's Baronage. 



ENGLISH ARMORIAL BEARINGS. 205 

ladies, that he attracted the particular at- 
tention of the Heiress of the Family of 
Latham, who was young, rich, and beauti- 
ful. Sir John, with the true spirit of Er- 
rantry, declared it was for her he fought ; 
and at length, contrary to the inclination of 
her Father, married the Lady. 

Mr. Sacheverell then relates the story 
which gave birth to this appendage to the 
Armorial Bearing of the Stanley Family. 
These are his words : 

" The Lord of Latham and his Lady, being 
Childless, as they were walking in the Park, 
heard a Child crying in an Eagle's nest : they 
immediately ordered their servants to search 
the Eyery, who presented them with a beau- 
tiful Boy, in rich swadling-cloaths. The 
good old lady looked upon it as a present 
sent from Heaven, ordered it to be carefully 
educated, and gave it the Surname of La- 
tham, He (the Child) was knighted by 
King Edward III. by the name of Sir 
Oskytel Latham, and left sole Heir of that 
vast estate. He had one daughter, named 
Isabella, who by marriage brought the ho- 



206 ENGLISH ARMORIAL BEARINGS. 

nours of Latham and Knowsley, with many 
other Lordships, to Sir John Stanley," 

Mr. Sacheverell goes no further into the 
Story ; and the Reader will be naturally in- 
clined to know whose Child this was, and 
how it was conveyed into the Eagle's nest. 
For this we must have recourse to Sir Wil- 
liam Dugdale *, who relates the Story more 
circumstantially, and, as he says, upon cre- 
dible tradition ; viz. That a Sir Thomas de 
Latham had a natural Son, called Oskytel, 
by an obscure woman, who lived near him ; 
and, " having no Child by his Lady, he de- 
signed to adopt this Oskytel for his Heir; 
but so that he himself might not be suspected 
to have been the Father. Observing, there- 
fore, that an Eagle had built her Nest in a 
large spread oak within his Park at Lathom, 
he caused the Child in swadling cloaths to 
be privily conveyed thither ; and (as a won- 
der) presently called forth his Wife to see it ; 
representing to her, that, having no Issue, 
God Almighty had thus sent hirn a Male 
Child, and so preserved, that he looked upon 

* Baronage, vol. II. p. 257. 



ENGLISH ARMORIAL BEARINGS. 20^ 

it as a miracle ; disguising the truth so arti- 
ficially from her, that she forthwith took him 
(the Child) with great fondness into the 
house, educating him with no less affection 
than if she had been his natural Mother ; 
whereupon he became Heir to that fair in- 
heritance; and that, in token thereof, not- 
only his Descendants, whilst the Male Line 
endured, but the Stanleys proceeding from 
the said Isabel (the Heir Female), have ever 
since borne the Child in the Eagle's Nest* 
with the Eagle thereon, for their Crest. 



Francis Bourgeois, Member of the Royal 
Academy, had leave from King George III. 
to wear the Polish Order " Merentibus/' 
The Diploma is dated Warsaw, February 
16, 1791. Ordered to be registered in the 
College of Arms. 



208 
ORIGIN AND DERIVATION 



OF A FEW 



&emarltafcle Surnames. 



Lewkenor. — Sir Lewis, Master of the Ce- 
remonies ; from one of the Hundreds of 
Lincolnshire, called anciently Levechenora* . 

Kempe. — The same as Champion. The 
Danish word*j\ 

Misenor. — From Mesonero, an Inn -keeper ; 
Spanish. 

Muncaster. — The old name of Newcastle 
upon Tyne; quasi Monk-Caster. The pre- 
sent name was perhaps taken on its being 
rebuilt. 

Mease.— From Me%e 9 a messuage J. 

Hugesson. — Cardinal Hugezun came over 
as the Pope's Legate, temp. Henry II. § 

* Brady's History of England, General Preface, p. 50. 
f Brady's Preface to the Norman History, p. 150, 
% See Blount's Diet. § Brady's Hist. p. 415. 



REMARKABLE SURNAMES. 209 

Dempster. — The Judges of the Isle of 
Man were called Deemsters # . 

Eldred. — There was an Archbishop of 
York of the name of Aldred, temp. Wil- 
liam the Conqueror. Perhaps contracted 
from Akwed, the Latin of Alfred. 

Brett ell. — There is a Seignory in Nor- 
mandy of the name of Bretteville. So we 
have corrupted the name of Frescheville into 
Fretwell. 

Belassis. — Something of this name may 
be seen in Brady's History, p. 196. 

Larpent. — From the French, IS Arpent ; 
Arpent signifying an acre. We drop the 
apostrophe. 

Duppa. — De Uphaugh and, by apos- 
trophe, D' Uphaugh, according to Anthony 
Wood. 

Firmin. — From St. Fermin in France. 

Paliser. — An official name of such person 
or persons who had the care of the pales of a 
forest *j\ 

* SacheverelPs History of the Island, p. 2. 
t Manwood's Forest Laws. 



210 ORIGIN, &C. OF 

Ord. — Signifies a Promontory in the High- 
land ; and, I presume, is Erse *. 

JBownas and JBonas. — Corrupted from 
Buchan-Ness, the seat of the Earl of Errol f . 

Ridgeway. — A local term for the way of 
the ford, or passage over a stream. Ryd 
and Rith signifying a ford J. 

Fitzherbert. — It is written Filius-Her- 
berti in very old deeds §. The Finches were 
called Finch- Herbert formerly; which led 
Daniel Earl of Winchelsea to think he was 
related to the Fitzherberts. Thus Leland: 
" The Finches that be now, say, that theire 
propre name is Hereberte ; and that with 
mariage of the Finche-Heyre, they tooke 
the Finche's name, and were called Finche- 
Herebert, joining booth names ||." 

Herbert of Kent married the heiress of 
Finch, and took that name as a prefix, which 
they soon corrupted into Fitz-herbert . But 
the Fitzherberts were a family before the 

* Pennant's Tour, p. 158. f Ibid. p. 124. 

% Hasted's History of Kent. 
§ Ex inform. Dom. Gul. Fitzherbert, Baronettu, 
II Itinerary, VI. 52. 



REMARKABLE SURNAME^. 211 

Finches were fledged ; and in old deeds the 
name is given Filius Herberti. 

Champernoun. — Devonshire: a corruption 
of CamperniUph, or De Campo Amulphi ; 
called, says Camden, Champernoun* . 

Smelt. — Ralph Luvel (or Lovel) an an- 
cestor of the Percivals, was, in the time of 
King Stephen, called also Simelt, for which 
no reason is given f. 

Names of Men, of Places, and Things, 
have changed, and by seeming corruption 
have come right again. 
Thus, for Men. 
Tollemache Talmash Tollemache 

Legarde Ledgiard Legarde 

Lyttelton Littleton Lyttelton. 

Fauconberg Falconbridge Fauconberg J 
Cholmondeley Cholmley Cholmondeley 
Osbaldiston Osberton Osbaldiston. 

I take this to be a local name, from Os- 
baldiston in Lancashire, q. Osbald his Town. 
There is in Yorkshire Qsbaldivick, pronounced 

* Britannia, col. 35. 

t See Collins's Peerage, 177 '9, art. Lovel and Holland, 

X So Shakspeare has it. 

p2 



212 REMARKABLE SURNAMES. 

Osberwick. It should be Oswald, a Bishop 
of York and Martvr, in both cases. 

We have the name Bernardiston, from a 
place of the name in Suffolk *. 

JRobertsbridge, in Sussex, appears to be 
a corruption of Rothersbridge, as it was 
long called, and with plausibility ; for it is 
situated on the river Mother : but the former 
is the truth, as I have been informed that in 
old Latin deeds it is styled Pons Boberti. 



There are some terms which, by a double 
corruption, have got home again ; as Cre- 
visses, in Derbyshire ; where Crevise, the 
word for a Cray -fish, is a corruption : but 
it gets home by it ; for the French word 
from whence cr ay -fish was first formed, is 
ecrevisse. This too is the radical word ; for 
the lobster is but a species of it, and called 
V ecrevisse de mer, or sea-crayfish ; what is 
now called the sea-cray-fish, is properly the 
lobster. This difference consists in the want 
of claws. 

* For both the places see Spelman's Viliare. 



2J3 



g>2mt>ola §*>cottca • 

OR, 

An Attempt to Elucidate some of the more 
Obscure Armorial Bearings, principally 
the Mottoes used by many of the Scottish 
Families. 

In a Letter to the Earl of Leicester, 

President of the Society of Antiquaries. 

** Arma Virumque." 

There seems to be something peculiarly 
significant and quaint in the greatest part of 
the Mottoes and Devices used by the Scottish 
Nobility, and perhaps in those of many Fa- 
milies of inferior Rank ; though these last 
do not so easily come under our observation. 

My intention is, to trouble your Lordship 
with my thoughts on a few of these Mottoes 
(as we call them); and refer to your extensive 
knowledge in the science of Heraldry, and 
your love of investigation, for the rest of 
these obscure impreses. 

We must, however, distinguish between 
the Motto and the Slug horn (or, as Sir 
George Mackenzie gives it, upon the more 



214 SYMBOLA SCOTICA. 

Southern pronunciation, S!ogan*J ; the latter 
being a cry de guerre, whereas the former 
(though one may sometimes answer both 
purposes) seems more to relate to some his- 
torical circumstance bv which the Family 
have been signalized. The original idea 
of these words, I have no doubt, related to 
War, and operated as what we now call the 
Watch-Word, and more emphatically the 
Word by the circulation of which the King 
can, at this day, call his guards about him, 
as the Chiefs of Scotland formerly assembled 
their Vassals in their respective divisions or 
clans. The French call it a Mot ; and the 
Italians, by an augmentation, Motto ; which 
last we have adopted when we speak in an 
heraldic style. The true Scottish term is a 
Ditton, the Slughorn being properly the cry 
de Guerre. Not to go into the antiquity of 
Mottoes, or Armory, further than the subject 
in question shall lead me, I shall content my- 
self with observing that Armorial Bearings 
in general, with us in England, have little 

* The Glossary to Douglas's Virgil adduces the 
Term from the Anglo-Saxon Slegan, interficere. 



MOTTOES, &C. 215 

more than the fancy of the party, with He- 
raldic sanction, for their foundation ; or some 
distant allusion to the name. Take one sin- 
gular instance of this last case, which Mr. 
Boyer (in his Theatre of Honour) gives, as 
a whimsical bearing. The Arms of the name 
of Matthias are three Dice (sixes as the 
highest throw), having, I make no doubt 
(though Mr. Boyer gives no reason for it), a 
reference to the election of St. Matthias into 
the Apostleship : " And the lot fell upon 
Matthias." One of the writers in the Anti- 
quarian Discourses (Mr. Agarde) thinks the 
old Motto of the Caves, of Stanford, in 
Northamptonshire, a happy conceit ; the an- 
cient Crest being a Grey-hound currant, 
with a label issuing out of its mouth, with 
these words, ^ Adsum; Cave." Had the 
Cave stood alone, without the Dog or the 
Adsum, it might have been very well, and 
have operated religiously, morally, or politi- 
cally : but otherwise the Dog seems to run 
away with the Wit. The Family, since Mr. 
Agarde's time, appear to have been sensible 
of this awkward compound, and have adopted 



216 SYMBOLA SCOTICA. 

the French word Gardez for the Motto ; 
though I think they had better have kept the 
Cave (as I have observed), and hanged the 
Grey-hound; though perhaps it was con- 
ceived at the time the Adsuvi was dropped, 
that Ca-ve, in the Latin, might be confounded 
with the English, Cave ; and that it would 
have appeared as if they had taken the name 
for the Motto, without another Latin word to 
denote that language ; and therefore might 
take Gardez, which shews itself to be French. 

Mr. Agarde's own Motto is much more 
apposite to his name ; which, he tells us at 
the end of his Memoir, was, JDieu me Garde; 
but at the same time this would have ad- 
mitted of improvement; for the French verb 
Garder was originally Agarder, which, had 
he known it, would have enabled him to have 
made, the pun complete — Dieu m Agarde. 

Before I quit the subject in general, I can- 
not help mentioning a bon mot of a friend of 
mine (and he has so much wit that I shall not 
rob him in the least by the repetition), on his 
visiting Chatsworth, to see the house. The 



MOTTOES, &C. 217 

Motto of the noble owner is, as your Lord- 
ship well knows, Cavendo Tutus, to which 
the Family has happily adhered in their Po- 
litical concerns. The state rooms in that 
house are floored with old oak, waxed, and 
very slippery, in consequence of which my 
friend had very near fallen down ; when, re- 
covering his equilibrium, he observed, i{ that 
he rather supposed the Motto related to the 
floors than the name." 

But it is time to lead to the matter I pro- 
posed, viz. the Scottish Mottoes ; and 
yet, before I proceed to them, I wish to pre- 
mise something on the grounds of a few of 
the Armoriae Bearings among the most 
ancient Scottish Families, which have ori- 
ginated from History. 

The principal Family of the name of 

Douglas 

carries " A Man's Heart Gules/' as a fixed 
principal Charge, because the Good Sir James 
Douglas, as he is styled, carried the Heart of 



218 SYMBOLA SCOTICA. 

King Robert I. (of the name of Bruce) to 
Jerusalem, and there interred it *. The ori- 
ginal Coat Armour of Douglas was, " Azure, 
in chief Three Stars Argent f" The Heart 
is now imperially crowned ; but that is a 
later introduction J, not borne at least by 
those who merely quartered the Arms. 

Campbell, 

Duke of Argyle, Marquis of Lorn, &c. 
bears in the Second and Third Quarters (for 
the Lordship of Lorn) a Feudal Charge of 
«' Or, a Limphad (or small Ship) Sable, with 
Flames of Fire issuing out of the Top of the 
Mast, and from the Fore and Hindermost 
Parts of the Ship :*■ which Fire, says my 
Author, was called in old blazonry St. An- 
thony's Fire. The reason is, that, as the 
Territory lay upon the Coast, this Bearing 
was indicative of the Tenure by which the 
Lands were held in capite ; viz. by supplying 
a Ship with twenty Oars in time of War, if 

* Nisbet's Cadencies, p. 17 8. 

t Idem, p. 208. 

% Nisbet, Armories, p. 199. 



MOTTOES, &C. 219 

required. The Reddendum runs, for the pro- 
vision of " Unam navem viginti Remorum, 
si petatur, tempore Belli, &c." * 

By Marriage, this Lordship, after many 
generations, came into the Family of Camp- 
bell, then Earl of Argyle ; but, in process of 
time, the Flames issuing from the Ship have 
been extinguished. 

This was not an uncommon Armorial Ap- 
pendage to other Feudal Lords, and Lord- 
ships similarly situated. 

Thus the Arms of the Isle of Arran are,* 
" Argent, a Ship, with its Sails furled. 
Sable/' 

The Earls of Orkney and Caithness have 
the Bearing of a Ship for the like reason ; 
being Lordships, or Feudal Earldoms, situate 
on the Coast ; but with Differences. 

The Earl of Orkney (and from thence the 
Earl of Caithness) bears a Ship of a more 
modern form, with three Masts ; but it has 
the honour of being within a double Tres- 
sure, counter-fleured, to shew its connexion 
with Royalty. 

* Nisbet, Armories, p. 203. 



220 symbola scotica. 

Drummond 

carries, " Or, Three Bars wavy Gales. " 
This simple Bearing, we are told, involves a 
Piece of History ; for that an Hungarian Gen- 
tleman, of the name of Maurice, in the Reign 
of Malcolm III. had the command of a Ship 
in which Edgar Atheline, his Mother Aga- 
tha, and his Sisters Margaret and Christian, 
were embarked, in their return from England 
to Hungary. A Storm arose, and drove them 
on the Coast of Scotland, where they were 
landed in the Frith of Forth, and entertained 
by the King, who afterwards married Mar- 
garet. This Maurice so ingratiated himself 
with King Malcolm, that he was solicited by 
the King to settle in Scotland, which he did, 
and had grants of many Lands ; and particu- 
larly those at Drymen or Drummond, of 
which last he took the name. Drummond, 
as we must now call him, was afterwards 
appointed Seneschal of Lenox ; and the 
King assigned him the above Arms, alluding 
to his original Profession of a Naval Officer, 
and in memory of his having conducted the 



MOTTOES, &C. 221 

then Queen safe through the Storm into the 
Port in Scotland *. 

Seton Earl of Winton. 

The Paternal Arms of Seton, afterwards Earls 
of Winton, were Crescents, for which no par- 
ticular reason appears : but the Lords of 
Seton have for some hundreds of years car- 
ried, " Or, a Sword erected in pale, support - 
ing an Imperial Crown Proper, betwixt Three 
Crescents within a Double Tressure, counter- 
fleured, Gules.' ' This honourable Augmenta- 
tion was granted by Robert the Bruce to 
his Nephew Sir Alexander Seton, of that 
Ilk, for the special and seasonable services 
performed by him and his Father Sir Christo- 
pher to that Monarch during the time of 
his troubles. Sir Christopher Seton, it seems, 
had lost two Estates of great value, one in 
Scotland, the other in England, together 

* Douglas's Peerage, p. 547. The Scottish Writers 
give different Derivations of the Name of Drummond, 
not to our present purpose ; though all seem to agree 
as to the reason of the Armorial Bearing of the Family. 
Seethe Works of Drummond of Hawthornden. 



222 SYMBCXLA SCOTICA. 

with his Life, in the Service of his King 
and Country ; upon which account King 
Robert (whose Sister, Christian Bruce, Sir 
Christopher had married), when he had 
overcome his Enemies, restored his Nephew, 
Sir Alexander Seton, to the Lands in Scot- 
land which his Father had lost, though he 
could not re-possess him of the English 
Estate ; granted the Augmentation of the 
Sword and Crown to his Paternal Coat- 
Armour, to perpetuate their gallant Actions ; 
and added the Double Tressure, which at 
that time was given to none but such as had 
married, or were descended from, Daughters 
of the Blood-Roval *. One branch of the 
Family, viz. Sir Alexander Seton of Pit- 
wedden (at one time a Lord of Session), 
upon the event of the death of his Father, 
who, in the Reign of King Charles I. (during 
the Civil Commotions) was killed by a Shot 
from the King's Enemies, with a Banner in 
his hand, assumed the Armorial Bearing of 
" An Heart distilling Drops of Blood f ." 

* Nisbet, Cadencies, p. 191. 
f Ibid. p. 200. 



MOTTOES, &c. 223 

These, my Lord, I offer in the line of No- 
bility, as Historical Bearings ; but many 
may likewise be found among the Gentry, 
who have Armorial Devices allusive to gal- 
lant actions, high employments, or other 
honourable circumstances. 

Of those, the few that follow, most easily 
occur, from the works of that laborious He- 
rald, Mr. Alexander Nisbet. 

Graham 

of Inchbrackie, descended of an eldest Son, 
of a second Marriage, of the first Earl of 
Montrose, gives, " Or, a Dyke [or Wall] 
fess-wise, Azure, broken down in several 
parts, See." The Dyke there is assumed, to 
difference the Bearer from his Chief, and to 
perpetuate that action of Gramus (one of the 
Predecessors of the noble Family of Graham) 
in pulling down the Wall [anno 420] built 
by the Roman Emperor Severus, which was 
thereafter called " Graham's Dyke/' 

N. B. By the Dyke the Scots seem to mean 
the Wall, i. e. the Vallum, which is formed 
out of the Dyke. 



224 symeolA scotIca. 

Clark 

of Pennycuik. Sir John Clark, of Penny- 
cuik, had this Motto, " Free for a Blast," 
which is explained in part by the Crest, 
which is a Man blowing a Horn : but 
for both the Crest itself, and the Motto, we 
must look into the Tenure of the Estate, 
which they derived, most probably by Mar- 
riage, from the Pennycuiks of that Ilk, an 
old Family in Mid-Lothian, who bore " Or, 
a Fess between Three Hunting Horns Sable, 
stringed Gules '" and, by the ancient Te- 
nure of their Lands, were obliged, once a 
year, to attend in the Forest of Drumsleich, 
since called Barrowmuir, to give a Blast of a 
Horn at the King's Hunting. 

The Claries, holding by the same Tenure, 
preserved the Motto. 

KlRKPATRICK, 

who gave the last Blow to Cummin, sup- 
posed to have been slain, cried out, " Lest he 
should not be quite dead, I will secure 
him," and stabbed him with his Dagger. 
Hence the Family took the Crest of "A 



MOTTOES, &c. 225 

Hand holding a Dagger in Pale, distilling 
Drops of Blood;" and with the Motto "I'll 
make sicker (sure)/' or, "111 make sure."* 

CilRRtCKo 

Stewart, Earl of Carrick. The Paternal 
Arms of Stewart, out of which was a Lion 
naissant, all within a Double Tressure, 
counter-fleured Gules : the Lion naissant 
intimating his original right to the Crown f . 

Farquharson, 

of Invercald, carries, in addition to his Pa- 
ternal Coat, " Argent, a Fir Tree growing 
out of a Mount Proper on a Chief Gules, 
— the Banner of Scotland in Bend, and on a 
Canton of the first (viz. Or), a Dexter 
Hand couped at the wrist, grasping a 
Dagger, point downwards, Gules." Mr. 
Nisbet says J, they carried the Fir Trees be- 
cause their Country abounded with such 
Trees ; the Hand grasping a Dagger, for 

* Nisbet, p. 147. See also Hume's History, ch. xiii. 
f Nisbet, Cadencies, p. 33. 
t Cadencies, p. 196. 

Q 



226 SYMBOLA SCOTICA. 

killing the Gumming; and the Banner is 
lately added, because the Grand-father of 
the present John Farquh arson (1702) was 
killed at the Battle of Pinkie, carrying the 
Banner of Scotland. 

Wood. 

The Chiefs of this name have given Trees 
in different forms ; but Wood of Largoe 
placed his Tree between Two Ships under 
sail, as Admiral to King James III. and IV. 
in whose reigns he defeated the English with 
an inferior Force. Another Branch of the 
Family gave a Hunting-horn hanging upon 
the Branch of a Tree, to shew he was the 
King's Forester # . 

Forbes, 

of Watertown, charges his Coat with an 
" Escocheon Argent, a Sword and Key in 
Saltire Gules," as being Constable of Aber- 
deen : and for a Difference from the Grays, 
places a Quill or Pen in the Paw of the Lion 
in the Arms of Gray, because his Ancestor 
was Sheriff's Clerk of Angus f . 

* Nisbet, Cadencies, p. 202. f Idem, p. 203, 



mottoes, &c 227 

John Ramsay, 
descended of the Ramsays of Wylicleuch 
in the Merss, who was Page to King James 
VI. thereafter Earl of Holdernesse, got for 
addition to his Paternal Bearing, " An Arm 
holding a naked Sword enfile of a Crown, 
with a Man's Heart on the point," because 
he rescued King James VI. from the Con- 
spiracy of the Earl of Gowrie and his Con- 
federates. The Paternal Coat was, " Argent, 
an Eagle displayed Sable/' # These are what 
the Scottish Heralds call " Arms of Special 
Concession." f 

Ayton, 
of Kippo, This Family bears " A Baton 
Peri Or, couped;" which, Mr. Nisbet says, 
is an uncommon Bearing for a younger legi- 
timate Son, it being a mark of Bastardy by its 
position ; but he tells us, the Baton of this 
description, and thus borne, was granted to 
Sir John Ayton of Kippo, Knight, by King 
Charles II. as an Augmentation, because he 
had been Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod 

* Nisbet, Cadencies, p. 196. 
t See Nisbet's Armories. 

q2 



228 SYMBOLA SCOTICA. 

to that King. Upon the Family Coat he 
therefore carried " A Baton Sable, charged 
on the top with one of the Lions of Eng- 
land.'' 

Stirling, 

of Glorat, carries " Argent, on a Bend en- 
grailed Azure, Three Buckles Or ; a Chief 
Gules, charged with a Naked Arm issuing 
out of a Cloud from the Sinister side, grasp- 
ing a Sword in pale, and therewith guarding 
an Imperial Crown ; all within a double 
Tressure, counterfleured of Thistles Vert." 
Which honourable Addition was granted to 
this Family for special Services done to King 
Charles I. and King Charles II. in their 
Troubles. 

Binning, 

of Easter Binning, a Cadet of Binning of 
that Ilk, who carried " Argent, a Bend en- 
grailed Sable," added, for Difference, on the 
Bend, a Waggon of the first, because he and 
his seven Sons went in a Waggon covered 
with Hay, and surprised and took the Castle 



MOTTOES, &c. 229 

of Linlithgow, then in the possession of the 
English, in the Reign of David the Bruce *, 

Lockart. 

This Name now bears a Man's Heart 
Proper, within a Padlock Sable, in perpe- 
tuation, they tell you, that one of the Name 
accompanied the good Sir James Douglas to 
Jerusalem, with the Heart of King Robert 
the Bruce. Be that as it may, it is intended 
to play upon the Name; and, to preserve 
the Story the more entire, some Branches of 
the Family have strengthened it by the 
Motto, " Corda serata Pando" [some have 
it, FeroJ. These Devices are differently 
placed by different Branches 5 but Mr. Nis- 
bet insinuates ■}• that this Bearing is an as- 
sumption of a modern date ; and that the old 
Arms were, till within a century before he 
wrote [1702], " Three Boars' Heads erazed ; 
the Crest, a Dexter Hand holding a Boar's 
Head erazed, Proper ; the Motto, < Feroc' 
Fortior.' " 

* Nisbet, Cadencies, p. 195. 
t Marks of Cadency, p. 199, 



230 SYMBOL A SCOTICA, 

Norfolk. 

The Duke of Norfolk has an augmenta- 
tion, viz. an Escocheon Or, in the middle 
of the Bend, charged with a Demi- Lion 
Rampant, pierced through the Mouth with 
an Arrow, within a double Tressure coun- 
terfleur'd Gules ; which was granted by 
King Henry VIII. for his services at the 
Battle of Flodden Field *, 

Besides these and many other Bearings, 
not at this day easily, if at all, to be accounted 
for, the Scots have, like ourselves, several that 
are responsive to the Name. Of these I have 
selected the few which follow, and have given 
their material Charge, without attending to 
the Colours, or to the Blazonry of the whole. 
Thus 

Coclcburn has a Charge of Three Cocks. 

Craw and Craufurd, Three Crows \ . 

* Nisbet's Cadencies, pp. 91, 92. 

t This Bearing is of late introduction, as alluding to 
the Name ; for those of the Name anciently gave for 
Arms " Gules, a Fess Ermine ;" and another Branch 
gave " Argent, Three Stags' Heads erased Gules." 



MOTTOES, &C. 231 

Fraser, Three Frases or Cinquefoils. 

Falconer, a Falcon. 

Forester, Three Bugle Horns; and the 
Peer of that Name and Title has for his 
Motto, " Blow, Hunter, thy Horn/' 

Heart, Three Men's Hearts. 

Hog, Three Boars' Heads. 

Justice, A Sword in Pale, supporting a 
Balance. 

Skene, Three Daggers, in the Scottish 
Language called Skenes. 



Mottoes* 

The Motto of Dalziel, Earl of Carn- 
warth, now an attainted Title, is, " I 
Dare;" the reason of which is given by 
Crawfurd, in his Peerage of Scotland. The 
ancient armorial bearing of this Family was, 

[Nisbet]. Crawfurd of Cloverhill has a still stronger 
relation both to the Name and to his Seat ; for to the 
original Bearing he adds Three Crows ; for Crest has 
a Garb (or Wheatsheaf ) ; and for Motto, " God feeds 
the Crows." Id. p. 57. — Like the Motto of our 
Corbet, " Deus pascit Corvos." 



232 SYMBOLA SCOTICA. 

A Man hanging on a Gallows, though it is 
now only a Naked Man with his Arms ex- 
panded. Some one of the Family having, 
perhaps, dropped the Gallows and the Rope, 
as deeming it an ignominious Bearing. 

But to proceed to the Motto. The His- 
torian says, that a Favourite of Kenneth II. 
having been hanged by thePicts,and the King 
being much concerned that the Body should 
be exposed in so disgraceful a situation, of- 
fered a large Reward to him who would rescue 
the Body. Alpinus, the Father of Kenneth, 
with many of his Nobles, had been inhu- 
manly put to death ; and the Head of the 
King (Alpinus), placed upon a Pole, was ex- 
posed to the Populace. It was not for the 
redemption of his Father's Body, that the 
new King, Kenneth, offered the Reward ; 
but for that of some young Favourite, per- 
haps of equal age, who was thus ignomi- 
niously hanging as a public spectacle, for 
the King appears to have been beheaded. * 
This being an enterprize of great danger, 
no one was found bold enough to under- 
* Buchanan. 



MOTTOES. 233 

take it, till a Gentleman came to the King 
and said, " Dal Ziel," i. e. " I Dare/' and 
accordingly performed the hazardous ex- 
ploit. In memory of this circumstance, the 
Family took the above-mentioned Coat- 
Armour, and likewise the Name of Ddlziel, 
with the interpretation of it, "I Dare/' as 
a Motto. The Maiden Name (as I may call 
it) of this Family is not recorded, neither is 
the original Coat Armour of the Gentleman 
mentioned. These circumstances are related 
by Crawfurd, upon the authority of Mr. Nis- 
bet, in his Marks of Cadency, p. 41. 

Occasional changes in Coats of Arms, it is 
very well known, have always been common, 
owing to accidents and incidents, as well as 
atchievements, several instances of which 
may be seen in Camden's Remains. 

Similar to the case of Dalziel, is the rea- 
son given for the Motto of Maclellan, Lord 
Kircudbright, which is, "Think on." Craw- 
furd's account is to this effect. A Company 
of Saracens, from Ireland, in the Reign of 
King James II. infested the County of Gal- 
loway, whereupon the King issued a Pro- 



234 SYMBOLA SCOTICA. 

clamation, declaring that " Whoever should 
disperse them, and bring their Captain, dead 
or alive, should have the Barony of Bombie 
for his reward." This was performed by the 
Son of the Laird of Bombie. who brought the 
Head of the Captain, on the Point of his 
Sword, to the King, who put him into the 
immediate possession of the Barony ; to per- 
petuate which action, the Baron took for his 
Crest a Moor's Head, on the Point of a 
Sword, with the words " Think on," for his 
Motto. 

It may be difficult to ascertain the meaning 
of these words; and one is at liberty either to 
suppose he addressed them to the King on the 
occasion, as if he had said " Think on your 
Promise :" — or they may apply to Posterity, 
advising them to Think on the gallant Action 
whereby they became ennobled : but I more 
incline to the former interpretation, because, 
in Yorkshire, which abounds with Scottish 
idioms, words, and proverbs, they say, " I will 
do so and so when I think on;" and " I would 
have done so and so, but I did not think on ," 
Our expression is, "Think of it." 



MOTTOES. 235 

Maxwell, of Calderwood, has the same 
Motto, on a different idea. The Crest is 
" A Man's Head looking upright," to which 
the Motto seems to give a religious interpre- 
tation, and to imply, '* Think on" Eternity *. 

A similar change appears to have been 
brought about, by religious attachments, 
in the Crest and Motto of Bannerman, 
which seems to extend to the rest of the 
Armorial Bearings. Sir Alexander Banner- 
man of Elsick, the chief, bore, " Gules, 
a Banner displayed Argent, and thereon a 
Canton Azure, charged with a St. Andrew's 
Cross. Crest, a Demi-Man in Armour, hold- 
ing in his Right Hand a Sword Proper. 
Motto, Pro Patrid." This Bearing is by 
Grant, 1692; but a younger Son of this 
House bore (when Mr. Nisbet wrote) the 
Field and Banner as above, " within a Bor- 
dure Argent, charged with Four Buckles 
Azure, and as many Holly-Leaves Vert, 
alternately." Buckles, in certain case we 
shall see hereafter, admit of a religious inter- 
pretation, and the Holly-Leaves (quasi 

* See Nisbet's Heraldry, p. 13S 



236 SYMBOLA SCOTICA. 

Holy-Leaves), seem to have a similar import, 
especially when added to the new Crest, viz. 
u A Man issuing out of the Wreath in a 
Priest's habit, and praying posture," with 
this Motto, " Hsec prestat Militia*." This 
change might possibly take place about the 
enthusiastic time of the Union of the two 
Kingdoms, when religious party spirit ran 
high in Scotland f . 

Ross, Lord Ross, has the same Motto as 
Dalziel Earl of Carnwath ; but on what 
pretensions does not appear. 

I shall now proceed to another conjectural 
interpretation^ as to the Motto of Lord 
Napier; which is, " Ready, aye Ready." 
Sir Alexander Napier was killed at the Battle 
of Flodden Field (1513), leaving Issue Alex- 
ander, who married Margaret, the Daughter 
of Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenorchy, an- 
cestor of the Earls of Breadalbine. The 
Motto, or rather, perhaps, Slug-Horn, of the 

* Nisbet's Heraldry, p. 414, 415. 
f See Memoirs of Ker of KerslancL 



MOTTOES. 237 

Laird of Glenorchy, was, " Follow me." 
On this marriage, therefore, I am led to be- 
lieve that Alexander Napier might take the 
responsive Slug - Horn of " Ready, aye 
Ready," as if he had said, " always ready 
to follow you." This may, perhaps, primd 
facie, appear too hypothetical ; but it is 
grounded upon the authority of a Friend, a 
Native of Scotland, who once told me that 
the Mottoes of the Lairds often had a refer- 
ence to that of their Chief. 

Something like this appears in the Motto 
of Fraser, late Lord Lovat, which is, " I am 
Ready." That Family is descended from a 
younger Branch, the elder having ended in 
Daughters. They had for their Ancestor, in 
the Female line, the Sister of King Robert I. ; 
and the Motto seems, if not responsive, at 
least expressive of Loyalty. 

This sort of Motto seems to prevail in the 
Family of Douglas. That of the elder 
Branches is, " Forward ;" to which the 
younger Branches reply, " Jamais Arriere," 
which may, perhaps, be best translated by 
the vulgar Scottish expression, " Hard at 
your Back." 



238 SYMBOLA SCOTICA. 

The Motto of Hay, Earl of Errol, 
which is, " Serva Jugum," deserves our par- 
ticular attention ; and is founded on a well- 
attested historical fact, related to this effect 
by Mr. Crawfurd. In the Reign of Ken- 
neth III. (anno 980), when the Danes in- 
vaded this Island, and gave Battle to the 
Scots, whom they had routed at the Village 
of Loncarty, near Perth, a certain Husband- 
man of the name of Hay, who was tilling 
his Land, perceived his Countrymen flying 
before the Enemy ; when he and his two 
Sons, arming themselves with their Plough- 
gear, the old Man having the Yoke of the 
Oxen for his own Weapon, upbraided the 
Scots for their Cowardice, and, after much 
difficulty, persuaded them to rally* They 
accordingly, under the Command of this un- 
expected Leader and his Sons, armed with 
Yokes and Plough-shares, renewed the 
Engagement ; when the Danes, supposing 
their Enemy had received a reinforcement, 
fled in their turn. The King, in reward for 
this uncommon Service, advanced Hay to the 
Rank of Noblesse, and gave him as much 



MOTTOES. 239 

Land as a Falcon, let loose from the Fists, 
should compass at one flight. The lucky 
Bird, says Dr. Abercrombie, seemed sensible 
of the merits of those that were to enjoy it ; 
for she made a circuit of seven or eight miles 
long, and four or five broad; the limits of 
which are still extant. This Tract of 
Ground, continues my Author, being called 
Errol, the Family took from thence its de- 
signation, or title. 

To these circumstances the Armorial Bear- 
ings of the Family have very strong allu- 
sions ; for the Supporters are Two Labourers 
with each a Yoke on his Shoulder ; the Grest 
is a Falcon; and the Motto "Serva Jugum." 
The Coat Armour likewise is, Argent, Three 
Escocheons Gules ; or, to speak in the lan- 
guage of noble Blazonry, Pearl, Three Es- 
cutcheons Ruby ; to intimate that the Father 
and his Two Sons had been the three fortu- 
nate Shields by which Scotland had been de- 
fended and saved. 

Another Branch of the Family (Hay^ 
Earl of Kinnoul,) gives the same Coat, 
with a Bordure for difference; the Sup- 



240 SYMBOLA SCOTICA. 

porters are likewise Two Husbandmen, the 
one having a Plough-share, and the other 
a Pick, or Spade, upon his Shoulder. The 
Yoke is preserved in the Crest, upon the 
Shoulder of a Demi-Man, from the waist 
upwards ; and the Motto seems to refer to the 
rallying of the Scottish Army in these words, 
" Renovate Animos." 

Buchanan further tells us, with regard to 
the modesty of these unexpected Conquerors, 
that, when they w T ere brought to the King, rich 
and splendid Garments were offered to them, 
that they might be distinguished in a Tri- 
umphal Entry which was to be made into the 
Town of Perth; but the old Man rejected them 
with a decent contempt; and, wiping the dust 
from his ordinary Clothes, joined the Pro- 
cession, with no other distinction than the 
Yoke upon his shoulder, preceded and fol- 
lowed by the King's Train. More minute 
circumstances of this extraordinary Victory, 
obtained, after a palpable Defeat, at the in- 
stigation of one obscure Man, are related by 
Buchanan, to whom I refer your Lordship ; 
and you will find it equal to any instance we 



MOTTOES. 241 

have of Roman Virtue, and the Amor Patrice > 
so much boasted of among the Ancients. 

Lloyd, in his Worthies, among his ob- 
servations on the Life of James Hay, Earl of 
Carlisle, tells us a chimerical story, but on 
what authority I do not discover; after having 
mentioned slightly the above fact, that James 
Hay, 600 years afterwards, " saved the King 
of that Country from the Gowries at their 
House with a Cultre (or Plough-share) in his 
hand ; v and that he had as much Land as- 
signed him as he could ride round in two 
days. It does not appear from the accounts 
we have of the Gowry conspiracy, that any 
person of the name of Hay was concerned ; 
but rather that this story has been confounded 
with the other, because, according to Dr. 
Abercrombie's account, the Land over which 
the Falcon flew in the first case, was in a 
part of Scotland known by the name of 
Gowry. 

Conyngham, Earlof Glencairn, hasthis 
very singular Motto, " Over Fork Over/* 

R 



242 SYMBOLA SCOTICA. 

alluding to the principal Charge upon the 
Shield, which is the rude and ancient Hay- 
Fork, called in Scotland a Shake-Fork, and 
is in shape not unlike the Roman letter Y. 

This Bearing, some of their Heralds tell us, 
was official, because, they say, the Family 
had been Hereditary Masters of the King's 
Horses and Stables, of which employment 
this instrument was indicative. Such official 
Charges and Sur-charges were common in 
Scotland: thus, Carnegie, Earls of Sou thesk, 
charge the Breast of their Blue Eagle with 
a Cup of Gold, being Hereditary Cup-Bearers 
to the Kings of Scotland. But this will not 
hold good as to the Conynghams ; though 
their Sur-charge of a Man on Horseback 
upon the Shake -Fork may perhaps be such 
an official Bearing. Different conjectures 
have been brought forward; and Mr. Camden 
and some others have interpreted the Fork 
to have been an Archiepiscopal Pall; for 
which surmise a very vague reason is given, 
viz, that an Ancestor of the Family was con- 
cerned in the Murder of Thomas Becker, 
Archbishop of Canterbury. Which Bearing, 



MOTTOES. 243 

Mr. Nisbet observes, would in such case 
operate rather as an abatement than a badge 
of honour*. This conjecture, however, will not 
hold good on heraldic principles ; for a Pall, 
when used as a Charge, is very differently re- 
presented , the three ends of it being square, and 
even touching the borders of the Escocheon; 
whereas the device before us is pointed at the 
ends, and does not come in contact with the 
edges of the Shield. But what has the Pall 
to do with the Motto ? We must therefore 
advert to other circumstances for an interpret 
tation of both the reason of the Armorial 
Bearing and the Motto, which generally assist 
to explain each other. The account which 
comes nearest the point in the present ques- 
tion is given by Mr. Nisbet from Frederick 
Van Bassen, a Norwegian, who, he says, was 
a good Genealogist, and left in MS. an ac- 
count of the rise of some Scottish Families, 
and among the rest of this of Conyngham ; 

* Becket's Murderers were Four Barons, and 
Knights, no doubt, of course; ^.Reginald Fitz-Urse, 
William de Tracy, Hugh de Morville, and Richard 
Breto. [Consult Lord Lyttelton and his Authorities,] 

e2 



244 SYMBOLA SCOTICA. 

from which MS. Mr. Nisbet gives this ac- 
count — " that Malcome, the Son of Friskine, 
assisting Prince Malcom (afterwards sur- 
named Can more) to escape from Macbeth's 
tyranny, and being hotly pursued by the 
Usurper's Men, was forced at a place to hide 
his Master by forking Straw or Hay above 
him. And after, upon that Prince's happy 
accession to the Crown, he, the King, re- 
warded his Preserver Malcome with the 
Thanedom of Cunnigham, from which he 
and his Posterity have their Surname, and 
took this Figure to represent the Shake-Fork 
with which he, Malcome, forked Hay or 
Straw above the Prince, to perpetuate the 
happy deliverance their Progenitor had the 
good fortune to give to their Prince.' ' Ad- 
mitting this to be a fact, or even a legendary 
tale, credited by the Family when this Bear- 
ing was granted or assumed, there is an 
affinity between the Device and the Motto 
not to be found among the other conjectures. 
There is another Family where the true 
Armorial Ensigns are illustrated by the 
Motto ; viz. the Arms of Bailie of Laning- 



MOTTOES. 245 

ton, which have often been blazoned as Nine 
Mullets or Spurrials (or 3, 3, 2, and 1); 
whereas it is evident they were Stars from the 
Motto, which is, " Quid clarius Astris?" 

I make no doubt there are many others of a 
like kind to be found, arising from inattention 
or ignorance. It has been observed, that the 
Shake-Fork is now much obscured by an 
Armed Man on Horseback within an In- 
escocheon, which is supposed to allude to the 
Hereditary Office of Master of the Horse; 
though whether this was the case, or whether 
that Bearing came by alliance, may be doubt- 
ful ; for Mr. Crawfurd, in his Peerage, does 
not give it as a part of the Family Coat of 
Conyngham in 171 6 ; though the more mo- 
dern Peerages have it. The shape of the 
Fork is more discernible in the Arms of 
Conyngham, Peers of Ireland, where it is 
not covered by a Sur-charge. The meaning 
of the name is local, Konyng-Ham ; i. e. 
The King's Village or Habitation ; which 
Etymon has been so long obscured by age, 
that the Lion Office, on granting Sup- 
porters to the Family, have given Two Rab- ; 



246 SYMBOLA SCOTICA. 

bits, or Conies. The Irish Branch has dif- 
ferent Supporters; viz. a Horse and a Buck; 
though it preserves the Motto. 

The Earl of Traquair has for his Motto 
" Judge noucht;" though there is nothing 
in his Armorial Bearings to which it can 
allude. One is therefore to look for some 
event interesting to the Family to ground it 
upon, which probably was this : Sir John 
Stewart, first created Baron, and afterwards 
Earl, of Traquair, by King Charles I. was 
Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, anno 1635, 
and remained a firm friend to the Royal 
Cause to the last. His adherence to it, how- 
ever, drew on him the resentment of the 
opposite party, insomuch that he was, 1641, 
impeached of High Treason ; and found guilty; 
but the Parliament submitted his punishment 
to the King, who ordered him a Pardon under 
the Great Seal, the Preamble to which sets 
forth the King's high opinion of his abili- 
ties and his integrity in the discharge of his 
duty. Upon this transaction, it seems more 



MOTTOES. 247 

than possible that the Earl, alluding to the 
rash and cruel treatment he had received 
from the Parliament for his loyalty to the 
King, might assume the Motto " Judge 
noucht ;" the complement of which, we all 
know, is, " That ye be not judged/' 

Johnston, Marquis of Annandale.— 
The modern Motto is " Nunquam non pa- 
ratus ;" but in the original Motto there is 
History, which connects with other parts of 
the Bearing. The Crest is " A winged 
Spur," and one of the Supporters is " A 
Horse furnished." The Crest was taken, 
because the Johnstons were often Wardens 
of the West Borders, and active in suppress- 
ing Thieves and Plunderers, who infested 
them during the Wars between England and 
Scotland ; whence was derived the original 
Motto, " Alight Thieves all ;" commanding, 
either by their authority or prowess, those 
Thieves to surrender. The Horse as a Sup- 
porter alludes to the same circumstance, or 
might be considered as a Bearing of Con- 



248 SYMBOL A SCOTICA. 

quest, from a Horse taken from some famous 
Marauder *. 

The Johnstons of Westrow, or Westerhall, 
have a different principal Bearing in their 
Arms ; viz, " A Man's Heart, ensigned with 
an Imperial Crown proper, in base," being 
part of the Arms of Douglas, in memory of 
the apprehension of Douglas Earl of Ormond, 
when in rebellion against James II. f 

Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton. — Motto, 
" Through." This Motto is older than the 
Nobility of the Family, if my conjecture be 
true ; as it seems to have originated from a 
circumstance which happened in the Reign 
of the Scottish King, Robert I. in England, 
at the Court of our King Edward II. Bat- 
tles, sieges, &c. had been maintained, with 
various success, between the two Kings, for a 
long time. During these animosities Sir 
Gilbert Hamilton, an Englishman, happen- 
ing to speak in praise of the intrepidity of 
Robert I. King of Scots, one of the De 

* Peerage of Scotland, 1767, octavo, 
t Nisbet's Heraldry, p. 146, 



MOTTOES. 249 

Spencers (John, Mr. Crawfurd says,) who 
was of King Edward's Bed-chamber, drew 
his falchion, and wounded him. Sir Gilbert, 
more concerned at the contumely than at the 
wound, and being prevented at the moment 
from resenting it ; yet when he met his anta- 
gonist the next day in the same place, ran 
him through the body. On this he imme- 
diately fled for protection to the King of 
Scots, who gave him lands and honours for 
this bold vindication of his valour*. 

The Motto of Murray, now Duke of 
Athol, is, "Furth, Fortune, and fill the 
Fetters ;" but it was originally given to 
John Stewart, Earl of Athol, and came to 
the Family of Murray by an intermarriage 

* Crawfurd's Peerage, in Duke of Hamilton. Bu- 
chanan, vol. I. p. 332, 333. Dr. Abercrombie, how- 
ever, gives us reasons to doubt that this was the 
first introduction of the name of Hamilton into Scot- 
land : though that is not material, if it was the occasion 
which introduced the Motto. This has no apparent 
connexion with the Crest or Arms, and is therefore 
more conclusive. Query as to the Crest ? 



250 SYMBOLA SCOTICA. 

with the Heiress of Stewart. The first Earl 
of Athol of the name of Stewart was consti- 
tuted Lieutenant to King James III. (145/); 
and for his defeating, and bringing to sub- 
mission, Mac-Donald, Lord of the Isles, 
who had rebelled, he had a special grant of 
several lands, and the above Motto added to 
his Arms ? , which seems to mean, Go forth, 
be successful, and fill the Fetters with the 
Feet of all other rebellious Subjects ; for I 
understand " Fortune' to be a verb, and 
chosen probably for the sake of the allitera- 
tion. One appendage to the Arms of Mur- 
ray, probably received from Stewart, has an 
allusion to the Motto ; for the Supporter, on 
the Sinister side> is a Savage, with his Feet 
in Fetters. 

Seton, Earl of Winton (attainted). The 
original Motto of Lord Seton was " Invia 
Virtuti Via nulla ;" but another was as- 
sumed by the first Earl, alluding to an ad- 
ditional charge which he took, by grant I 

* Crawfurd's Peerage, 



MOTTOES. 251 

presume, when he was created into that dig- 
nity with great pomp (1601) at Holy-Rood 
House. To the original Sivord and Imperial 
Crown which he bore in an Inescocheon 
with a Tressure, was added a Blazing Star of 
Twelve Points, with this new Motto, 6C In- 
taminatis fulget honoribus */' expressive of 
the unshaken Loyalty of the Family, which 
the last Peer unhappily forgot, and forfeited 
in the Rebellion l'/lo. 

The Slughorn of the Family is Set on\, 
which, by amplification, I apprehend, means 
Set upon your Enemy, as an incitement to 
ardour; and is rather analogous to the Motto 
Think on, of the Lord Kirkcudbright, be- 
fore-mentioned. 

Bruce, Earl of Elgin. This, and other 
Branches of that ancient and once Kingly 
Family, has, for its Motto, " Fuimus" al- 
luding strongly to their having been for- 
merly in possession of the Crown of Scot- 

* Nisbet's Cadencies, p. 192. See also Douglas's 
Peerage. 

t Douglas's Peerage, in the Arms. 



252 SYMBOLA SCOTICA. 

land. The Crest is likewise denotative of 
Royal pretensions, viz. u A Hand holding a 
Sceptre." Something, however, is worth 
observing in several of the subordinate 
Branches, more distant from the original 
Stock, where one may discern the gradual 
dispirited declension of the Family, in point 
of Regal claims. One private House, in- 
deed, bears the Lion Rampant in the Arms, 
and likewise the Crest, and the Motto of the 
Peer. Another descendant drops the Lion 
in the Arms, and only bears for Crest, " A 
Hand holding a Sword" with this modest 
Motto, " Venture forward." A third seems 
to give up all for lost, by the Crest, viz. "A 
Setting Sun" with this Motto, " Irre- 
vocable " while a fourth appears to relin- 
quish a Temporal for the hope of an Eternal 
Crown, by this Motto, " Spes mea su- 
perne. • 

Gordon, Duke of Gordon. The pri- 
mitive Bearing of this Family was, " Azure, 

* Nisbet's Heraldry, vol. I. p. 145, 



MOTTOES. 253 

a Boar's Head couped, Or;" though at 
present it carries " Azure, Three Boars 
Heads couped, Or." The first is the more 
honourable Charge, as the Unit is always 
accounted in Heraldry preferable to Num- 
bers, not only on account of its simplicity * ? 
but in a religious sense (often couched in 
Armory), as it betokens God the Father, 
while the Charge of Three has the like re- 
ference to the Trinity. The traditional story, 
however, relating to the particular Coat 
Armour before us, is told by Douglas, in his 
Peerage of Scotland, to this effect ; viz. that 
in the Reign of King Malcolm Canmore, in 
the eleventh century, a valiant Knight, of 
the name of Gordon, came into Scotland, 
but from whence is not said, and was kindly 
received by that Prince. The Knight, not 
long afterwards, killed a Wild Boar, which 
greatly infested the Borders f , when Mai- 

* Nisbet's Heraldry. 

f In rude times, such as those were of which we 
have been speaking, it was accounted an action of no 
small valour to kill so fierce an animal as a Wild Boar ; 
being attended with considerable personal danger, for 



254 SYMBOLA SCOTICA, 

colm gave him a grant of lands in the Shire 
of Berwick. These lands, according to the 
custom of those times, the Knight called 
Gordon j after his own name, and settled 
upon them, taking a Boars Head for his 
Armorial Ensign, in memory of his having 
killed " that monstrous animal*/' This 



want of such weapons, offensive and defensive, as 
we have at present. On this account I may be ex r 
cused bringing forward a parallel honour attending a 
circumstance of this sort, though I fetch it from the 
Hottentots, a people to whose very name we seem to 
have falsely annexed ideas, far from the truth, of every 
thing below the dignity of human nature, and placed 
them but one degree above the brute creation. On 
the contrary, they are represented by Kolben, who 
had opportunities of personal intercourse with them, 
and was well qualified to observe and reason upon 
what he saw, as a people much wronged by our unfa- 
vourable opinions of them. But to the point: their 
country appears to be, from its situation, exceedingly 
exposed to the incursions of the fiercest of beasts, 
lions and tigers ; insomuch that a Hottentot who kills 
one of these animals with his own hand is deified, and 
his person held sacred ever after. 
* Douglas's Peerage, p. 295. 



MOTTOES. 255 

may seem a trivial reason in itself, but we 
have another similar tradition in the Arms 
of Forbes # . 

In process of time the Gordons, according 
to the practice in Heraldry, increased the 
number of Boars Heads to three, two and 
one; and thus they continue to be borne at 
this day, with proper differences ; one of 
which, being particular, I shall mention, viz. 
Gordon, Earl of Jlhoyne. The reference 
contained in the Motto of this Branch seems 
merely to be confined to the Cheveron placed 
between the Boars Heads, in these words, 
" Stant ccetera Tigno," which last word is 
the acknowledged Latin word for the Cheve- 
ron\. This is, perhaps, the greatest com- 
pliment ever paid to the Cheveron, which is 
accounted one of the humblest Charges 
known, in Heraldic language, by the name 
of Ordinaries. 

Thus much for the Arms of the Duke of 
Gordon, and for what has been said both of 

* Nisbet's Heraldry, p. 327. 

f Gibbon's Introd. ad Latinam Blazoniam. See also 
"Nisbet's Heraldry, p, 316, v 



256 SYMBOLA SCOT1CA. 

the Arms and Motto of the Earl of Aboyne ; 
but the Motto of the Ducal Branch of the 
Family is yet unaccounted for, which is 
" Bydand." This, I make no doubt, is a 
compound word, and of no little antiquity ; 
and I take the resolution of it to be, by con- 
traction, JByde th 9 End, with the letter D 
in the place of the TH ; for the Glossarist 
to some ancient Scottish Poems, published 
from the MSS. of George Bannatyne, at 
Edinburgh, 1/70, p. 247, renders the word 
JBidand, pendente Lite, See also the Glos- 
sary, ad calcem. As to its import, it may 
refer to Family transactions, in two points of 
view ; viz. either to loyal or religious attach- 
ments. In support of the first, we find that 
Sir Adam Gordon was a strenuous asserter 
of the claims of the Bruces, and peculiarly 
active in the cause of King Robert 1. (in that 
long contest), who accordingly rewarded 
him with a large grant of land, sufficient to 
secure his interest, and make him hyde the 
end of the contest as a feudatory under that 
King. The Son and Grandson of Sir Adam 
were both faithful to the interest of the 



MOTTOES. 257 

Bruces, and had the above grant confirmed 
by King David II. *■ If this is not satis* 
factory, we have instances of acts of piety 
done by the early Branches of this Family, 
sufficient to warrant the Motto on the inter- 
pretation here given ; for in the Reign of 
Malcolm IV. the Family had large pos- 
sessions, part of which they devoted to re- 
ligious purposes, by considerable endowments 
and benefactions given to the Abbey of 
Kelso -j\ 

I incline, however, more strongly to the 
military sense of the Motto ; and the more, 
as it is borne by other Families, manifestly 
with that reference, though I cannot account 
for the connexion of the two Houses. Thus, 
for instance, Leith, in one Branch, has for 
the Motto, " Semper Fidus;" in another, 
" Trusty to the End ;" and in a third, 
" Trusty and Bydand ;" in this last, I think 
the contraction of the last word, as above 
suggested, is more clearly established J. 

* Crawfurd's Peerage. f IbicL 

% Nisbet's Heraldry, p. 217. 

S 



258 SYMBOLA SCOTICA. 

In these Mottoes of Leith, it must be con- 
fessed there is more appearance of a religious 
application than in that of the Duke of Gor- 
don, as the Armorial Bearings are partly 
compounded of Cross-Croslets, and the Crest 
of the first is likewise a Turtle-dove, 

Elphinston, Lord Elphinston, has for 
his Motto " Cans Causit */' or, as written 
by Mr. Nisbet, * l Cause caused it." f 

In Almon's Short Peerage of Scotland 
Caus or Cause is interpreted Chance, which 
leads us to search for some casual circum- 
stance in the history of the Family, whereby 
it was elevated. 

Alexander Elphinston was ennobled by 
King James IV. in the time of our Henry 
VIII. ; to whom a fatal incident happened, to 
which his Descendants might have a retro- 
spect when the Motto w*as assumed. Some 
branches of the story are controverted ; but 
enough is left by tradition to found our con- 
jecture, and for the Family to rest the choice 

* Crawfurd's Peerage. 

f System of Heraldry, p. 1 54. 



MOTTOES* 259 

gf their Motto upon. This Alexander, the 
first Peer, was slain at the Battle of Flodden 
Field (1513), together with King James IV.; 
and being, in his person and face, very like 
the King, his body was carried by the 
English to Berwick, instead of that of the 
King, and treated with some indignity. The 
controvertible part of the circumstance is, 
that the King escaped by this means, and 
lived to reward the Family who had thus lost 
their valiant Chief; but strong proofs are 
to be found, that the King was actually slain, 
though by some accounts not in the Battle, 
as his body was identified by more than one 
of his confidential Servants, who recognized 
it by certain private indelible marks *. 

Buchanan allows that the King escaped 
from the Battle ; but adds, that he was killed 
the same day by a party of his own Subjects, 
whose interest it was to take him off, to avoid 
a punishment due to themselves for cowardice 
in the preceding Battle *j\ 

* Drake's Hist. Ang. Scot. 

t Buchanan's History, Book xiii. p. 26, 

s2 



260 SYMBOLA SCOTICA. 

Holinshed tells us, that in order to deceive 
the Enemy, and encourage his own Troops, 
the King caused several of his Nobles to be 
armed and apparelled like himself*; and this 
practice, at that time of day, seems not to 
have been uncommon ; for Shakspeare makes 
Richard say, during the Battle of Bosworth 
Field, 

" I think, there be Six Richmonds in the Field : 
Five have I slain to-day instead of him f." 

Let this pass for truth ; yet was Lord El- 
phinston's case the most remarkable, and 
most deserving of favour to his posterity, on 
account of the insults offered to his body, 
tinder a supposition that it was the body of 
the King. After the death of James IV. a 
long Minority ensued, and consequently a 
Regency ; but what reward the Family of 
Elphinston had, or what weight they bore in 
the Reign of James V. or in that of Queen 
Mary, History is not minute enough to in- 
form us ; though we find, that the Great 
Grandson of the first Peer slain at Flodden- 

* Holinshed's Chronicle. f Act v. Sc. iv« 



MOTTOES. 261 

Field was of the Privy Council, and High 
Treasurer to James VI. (anno 1599) before 
his accession to the Crown of England. This 
King was too w ! 1 read not to have known 
what passed in the Reign of his Great Grand- 
father respecting the first Lord Elphwston ; 
and I am willing to suppose the Descendants 
of that Peer were equal! v informed of the 
fact above related ; and that the Lord Trea- 
surer Elphinston modestly imputed his ele- 
vation ultimately to that circumstance, and 
allusively took the Motto before us. 

Lest this surmise should not be satisfactory, 
I will offer another on a very different ground, 
arising from the Crest, which is, " A Lady 
from the middle richly attired, holding a 
Castle in her Right Hand, and in her Left a 
Branch of Laurel" This throws the matter 
open to another conjecture ; for the Bearing 
of the Lady, with the Castle in her Right 
Hand, may well be supposed to relate to Al- 
liances ; several of the Ancestry of the Fa- 
mily, which came originally from Germany 
in the time of Robert the Bruce (in the 



262 SYMBOEA SCOTICA. 

Reign of our Edward II.) having married 
Heiresses *, whereby they obtained Lands, 
Castles, Power, and Nobility. These events 
often repeated, which may be termed the 
effects of chance, give us latitude to suppose 
the Motto may, on the other hand, relate to 
those casual means, whereby the Family rose 
to the honour of the Peerage. 

These are the only two conjectures I have to 
offer ; and I do jnot at present meet with any 
other historical matter to warrant a third. 

Leslie, Earl of Rothes. — The Motto of 
this Family is u Grip (or Gripe) Fastf," and 

* Nisbet's Heraldry, p. 154. 

f The traditional Family History of this Motto is, 
that a Countess of Rothes (then Head of the House in 
her own right), riding behind a servant through a dan- 
gerous ford, had nearly lost her seat from fear ; when 
the man, encouraging her by the words " Gryp Fast" 
the Countess took the advice, was rescued from im- 
minent danger, and her life preserved. This account 
of the origin of the Motto was given by one of the 
Family to a Friend of mine ; but how far it may gain 
credit I do not determine. 



MOTTOES. 263 

seems to contain a double allusion ; first to 
the old Motto " Firma Spe," and afterwards 
to some parts of the additional Armorial Ap- 
pendages. I call it the old Motto, from the 
account Mr. Nisbet gives of the original 
Bearing and its adjuncts ; viz. " Argent, on 
a Fess, between two Cross -Croslets Azure, 
Three Buckles Or/' Crest, " A Griphon's 
(or Griffin's) Head couped Proper, charged 
with a Cross-Croslet fitched Argent." Motto, 
" Firma Spe." * Herein the Cross -Croslets 
repeated, taken together with the new Motto^ 
admit of a religious allusion, as holding- Jast 
the Faith of Christ with Jirm Hope, expressed 
allegorically by the Head of the Griffin. It 
may therefore be conceived, that the change 
of the Motto might take place after the Fa- 
ixiily, on being ennobled, chose Griffins for 
Supporters ; thereby giving a loose and whim- 
sical translation, if I may call it so, of u Firma 
Spe," by the words " Grip Fast." The an- 
cient Bearings of the Cross-Croslets are now 
discharged, nothing remaining on the Field 

* Nisbet ? s Heraldry, vol. i. p. 96, 



264 SYMBOLA SCOTICA. 

but a Bend, instead of a Fess, charged with 
Three Buckles ; so that the meaning, couched 
under the Cross -Croslets, the Griffin's Head, 
and the original words of the Motto, is en- 
tirely lost : and at present nothing remains 
but a quaint allusion to the group of those 
chimerical Animals. The Suckles, borne 
first on the Fess, and afterwards on the Bend 
(a Change not uncommon as a Difference, in 
to; en of Cadency or Cadetship in Scotland), 
may likewise have regard to that strong me- 
taphorical description of Christian Defence 
against the Powers of Darkness in the Sixth 
Chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians, or 
to the First Epistle to the Thessalonians 
(Chap. v. 21). " Hold fast that which is 
good ;" viz. the Faith and Hope in the Cross 
of Christ. In support of this idea, as being 
primarily religious, it appears that one sub- 
ordinate Branch of the Family (Leslie of 
Talloch) bears for a Crest, not a Griffin's, 
but " An Eagle's Neck, with Two Heads 
erased Sable \* with the Motto " Hold 
Fast :" and another has for its Motto " Keep 



MOTTOES. 



265 



Fast:*'* so that Grip, or Gripe Fast, may be 
considered as a mere canting Motto, arising 
from old Heraldic wit. Leslie of Burdsbank, 
carries the quartered Coat of the Earl of 
Rothes, with Differences; with the Crest, 
" A Buckle Or," and the Motto " Keep Fast." 

I close this attempt (for I call it nothing 
more) with a singular Motto of a Private 
Family. 

Haig, or perhaps Haigh, of Bemerside, 
has for the Family Motto " Tyde what may," 
founded on a Prophecy of Sir Thomas Ler- 
mont (well known in Scotland by the name 
of " Thomas the Rhymer," because he wrote 
his Prophecies in Rhyme), who was an He- 
rald in the Reign of Alexander III. He is 
said to have foretold the time of his own 
death; and particularly, among other remark- 
able occurrences, the Union of England and 
Scotland, which was not accomplished till the 
Reign of James VI. some hundreds of years 
after this Gentleman died. These Prophe- 

* Nisbet's Heraldry, vol. I. ubi supra. 



266 SYMBOL A SCOTICA. 

cies were never published in a perfect state 5 

but the Epitome of them is well known in 

Scotland, though Mr. Nisbet says it is very 

erroneous. The original, he tells us, is a 

Folio MS. which Mr. Nisbet seems to have 

seen; for he adds, " Many things are missing 

in the small book which are to be met with 

in the original, particularly these two lines, 

concerning his (Sir Thomas Ijermont's) 

neighbour, Haig of Bemerside : 

■ Tyde what may betide, 
Haig shall be Laird of Bemerside.' 

% *. And," continues Mr. Nisbet, " his Pro- 
phecy concerning that ancient Family has 
hitherto been true ; for since that time till 
this day (1/02) the Haigs have been Lairds 
of that place/'* 

" Cave Adsum" is the Motto of Jarpin, 
of Applegirth, Bart, in Scotland. The Ingre- 
dients (as they may be called) to which it 
alludes, are very dispersed, and to be col- 
lected from the Supporters, the Bearing, and 

* Nisbet's Cadencies, pp. 158, 159. 



MOTTOES. 267 

Crest : the Arms having " Three Mullets 
charged on the Chief;" the Supporters, "An 
Armed Man and a Horse ;" and the Crest, 
" A Mullet or Spur-Rowel." This might 
allude to Justs and Tournaments *. 

I shall conclude with one Irish Motto; that 
of Fitzgerald — " Crom a Boo ;" a Cri 
de Guerre, or Term of Defiance. A Boo 
means the Cause, or the Party, and Crom 
was the ancient Castle of the Fitz- Geralds. 
So Butler a Boo meant the Ormond Party, 
the Cri on the other side ; by which they 
insulted each other, and consequently frays 
and skirmishes ensued f . 



Simon Fitz-Alan had a Son Robert, who, 
being of a fair complexion, was called Boyt, 
or Boyd, from the Celtic or Gallic word 
Boidh, which signifies fair or yellow J, from 

* See Nisbet's Heraldry. 

t I owe this observation to my noble Friend, and 
kind Correspondent, Lord Dacre. 

X So Douglas means White Man. See " Armories." 



268 SYMBOLA SCOTIC A, 

which he assumed his Sur-name, and from 
him all the Boyds in Scotland are de- 
scended *. 

Canmore is a Sobriquet. So might Gold- 
Berry, from the colour of Boyd's hair. So- 
briquets common in England and France ; 
there was scarce a French King without 
some addition, relative to their persons, or to 
their good or bad qualities. 

Goldherry is a Slughorn, for the Motto is 
Confido, as applying to the confidence the 
Chief had in the Vassals belonging to the 
Clan; though by the modern Crest (a Thumb 
and two Fingers pointing to Heaven) it seems 
to admit of a religious interpretation. 

* Douglas, p. 373. 



269 



DISSERTATION 



ON 



Coarfjes* 



Every thing has History belonging to it, 
though perhaps it is seldom worth investiga- 
tion ; and what follows will, I suspect, be 
thought not unlike Gratiano's reasons ; viz. 
" As two grains of wheat hid in two bushels 
of chaff; you shall seek all day ere you find 
them, and when you have them, they are not 
worth the search*." But, as the History 
of Coaches in general, and particularly of 
Hackney Coaches, has never been drawn 
together, I shall attempt to do it as an his- 
torical detail of that species of luxury. 

The Nobleman, and the man of fortune, 
steps into his own carriage ; and the humbler 

* Merchant of Venice. 



2JT0 DISSERTATION ON 

orders of men into their occasional coach, 
even with the gout upon them, when walking 
is out of the question ; without ever thinking 
with the smallest gratitude of those who in- 
troduced or improved such a convenience ; 
and all this because these Vehicles are now 
too common to attract our notice further than 
their immediate use suggests. 

It is the business of Antiquaries to rescue 
subjects of this sort from oblivion, as to their 
origin, their improvements, &c. to the pre- 
sent hour; who of course must leave it to 
others of the same class, to shew their de- 
cline ; for it is not improbable that even the 
present gay families, or their posterity, may 
be witnesses of such a revolution. 



The first Wheel-Carriages of the Coach 
kind were in use with us in the Reign of 
King Richard II., and were called Whirli- 
cotes ; though we cannot but suppose they 
were such as, but for the name of riding, 



COACHES. 271 

our ancestors might as well have walked on 
foot. Let us hear the account given either 
by Master John Stowe, or some of his 
Editors, on this matter, who tells us that 
" Coaches were not known in this Island ; 
but Chariots, or TVhirlicotes , then so called, 
and they only used of Princes, or men of 
great estates, such as had their footmen 
about them. And for example to note, I 
read * that Richard II. being threatened by 
the Rebels of Kent, rode from the Tower of 
London to the Miles-End, and with him 
his Mother, because she was sick and weak, 

in a Whirlicote But in the vear 

next following, the said Richard took to 
wife Anne, daughter to the King of Bo- 
hemia, who first brought hither the riding 
upon side- saddles ; and so was the riding in 
those TVTiirlicotes and Chariots forsaken, 
except at Coronations, and such like spec- 
tacles. But now of late," continues he, 
" the use of Coaches brought out of Ger- 
many, is taken up and made so common, as 

* He cites Lib. S. Marise Aborum. 



2^2 DISSERTATION (XKT 

there is neither distinction of time, nor dif- 
ference of persons, observed ; for the world 
runs on wheels with many whose parents 
were glad to go on foot*/' 

We may hence suppose that the TVhirli- 
cote was not much more than a Litter upon 
Wheels, and adapted both to state and inva- 
lidity, among the higher orders of mankind ; 
for we have seen that they gave place even to 
riding on Horseback, among the Ladies, as 
soon as proper Saddles were introduced. 

The word Coach is evidently French, from 
their word Carrosse, and was formerly often 
written Carroche, as it appears in Stowe's 
Chronicle, where the two words appear al- 
most in the same sentence. The French 
word, nevertheless, is not radically such, but 
formed from the Italian Carroccio, or Car- 
rozza, for they have both; and that even 
the latter is a compound of Carro Rozzo, it 
being a red Carriage, whereon the Italians 
carried the Cross when they took the field. 
So says Mr. Menage f; and if so, this Vehicle 

* Survey of London and Westminster, booki. 
t Orig. ItaL 



COACHES. 273 

passed from Italy to Germany, from thence 
to France, and at length to us. According 
to Mr. De Caseneuve, the Italian Carrocio 
had four wheels ; and he adds to what Mr. 
Menage has said, that they carried their 
Standards upon it *. 

The French Charrette, from whence our 
Chariot f, had but^two wheels. But we 
may observe how our word is degraded, for 
it properly signifies a Cart, though it had 
four wheels J. The French, since Coaches 
came into use, have been ashamed of the 
term, and call it a Carrosse Coupe, or Half- 
Coach. 

By the above account the Chariot seems to 
have been the elder Vehicle, or rather the 
Coach in its infancy ; which will lead us to- 
wards the etymon of our word Coach, and to 
the original nature of our Chariot, though 
both of them have the same common parent. 

* Appendix to Menage, Orig. Fr. 
t Chariot— v. Carruca in Du Cange. Used in France 
at the end of the Reign of Francis I. and Henry II. 
% Richelet. 



2^4 DISSERTATION ON 

We may, however, collect enough from 
these accounts, to satisfy ourselves that the 
introduction of Coaches took place in the 
Reign of Queen Elizabeth ; and Stowe's 
Continuator adds a very natural conse- 
quence : — That, after the Royal example, 
"divers great ladies made them Coaches, 
and rode in them up and down the countries, 
to the great admiration of all the beholders. " 
After this, he tells us, they grew common 
among the Nobility and opulent Gentry; that 
within twenty years Coach-making became 
a great trade, and that Coaches grew into 
more general use soon after the accession of 
King James. 

What sort of Carriages they originally 
were with us, in point of elegance, is not 
easily said ; but in Germany, about that pe- 
riod, we are told they were — ■" ugly Vehicles 
made of four boards, which were put together 
in a very clumsy manner # ." Of these, how- 
ever, my Author adds, that John Sigismund, 
Elector of Brandenburg, when he went to 

* Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg, p. 222. 



COACHES. 275 

Warsaw to do homage for the Dutchy of 
Prussia, A. D. 1618, had in his train thirty- 
six of these Coaches, each drawn by six 
horses. 

Either the Chariots of that time were 
usually more elegant, or the Denmarkers 
had more taste than the Germans ; for the 
same Author tells us, that, when the King of 
Denmark passed through Berlin, in the 
Reign of the Elector John George, who died 
1598, the King made his entry 6< in a black- 
velvet Chariot, laced with gold, drawn by 
eight white coursers, with bits and capa- 
risons all of silver *." 

The Chariot I take to have been a much 
more ancient Vehicle, and an open Vehicle; 
for we read of them in the Reign of our 
Henry VII. and even of our Richard II. 

Queen Elizabeth, when she went to St. 
Paul's, 1588, after the Spanish Armada, was 
in a Chariot supported by four pillars, and 
drawn by two white horses -Js 

* Memoirs, p. 221. 

t Nichols's Preface to Queen Elizabeth's Pro- 
gresses, p. xxiii. 

T 2 



2^6 DISSERTATION ON s 

It is generally agreed, by those Writers 
who have touched upon the subject, that 
Coaches were introduced into this Kingdom 
in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth ; but they 
must have had an earlier appearance amongst 
us than Anderson, in his History of Com- 
merce, vol. I. p. 421, allows, who affirms, 
that the first of them was brought hither by 
[Henry] Fitz-Alan, the last Earl of Arundel 
of that name, in the year 1580 ; which can- 
not be the truth ; for his Lordship died 1579. 
This Earl, after having served Kings Henry 
VIII. and Edward VI. and Queen Mary, 
became likewise high in the favour of Queen 
Elizabeth, and was Lord Steward of her 
Household ; but, finding himself supplanted 
by the Earl of Leicester, he went abroad 
A. D. 1566 *. It is to be supposed that he 
travelled to the sea-coast in the accustomed 
manner on Horseback ; but he is said to have 
returned in his Coach, which, Mr. Granger 
says, was the first Equipage of the kind ever 
seen in England f ; but that Author has left 

* Camdeif s Elizabeth. 

t Biographical History of England, I. 193, 8vo, 



COACHES. 277 

us without the date ; so that we are yet to 
seek for that point. 

Another Writer robs his Lordship entirely 
of the honour of such introduction ; for Stowe's 
Continuator expressly says, that " In the 
year 1564 (two years before the Earl of 
Arundel went abroad), Guilliam Boonen, a 
Dutchman, became the Queen's Coachman, 
and was the first that brought the use of 
Coaches into England *." This very Coach- 
man is said also to have driven the Queen's 
Coach, when she visited Oxford, 1592. 
Which of these two stories be true, the 
Relaters, Granger and Stowe, must an^ 
swer for : but Anderson is palpably wrong in 
his date. 

I can form no better an idea of our first 
Coaches than that they were heavy and un- 
wieldy, as they continued to be for nearly 
two centuries afterwards ; and I can at best 
but take the standard from the present State 

* Chronicle, p. 867. This Coachman's Wife had 
also the honour of introducing the Art of Starching 
Cambric and Lawn, and was the first Starcher the 
Queen had. Idem in eod. 



2^8 DISSERTATION ON 

Coaches of the Archbishop of Canterbury and 
the Speaker of the House of Commons *. 

* I must here stop a moment to relate an Anec- 
dote of the late Right Honourable Arthur Onslow, 
when Speaker of the House of Commons, whose ideas 
of travelling did not exceed the expedition of a pair 
of horses tugging his own lumbering State Coach. 
King George II. died on Saturday morning early, 
October 25, 1760. The Duke of Devonshire (then at 
Chatsworth) was Lord Chamberlain ; and the Duke 
of Rutland (then at Beivoir Castle) was Lord Steward. 
Expresses were dispatched to these great Officers, 
among others, immediately ; and the Duke of De- 
vonshire arrived in Town on the Monday evening, 
though the distance was 150 miles. Tuesday and 
Wednesday came, but without the Lord Meward, to 
the utter astonishment of the Speaker, who knew that 
his distance from the Metropolis was not so great as 
that of the Duke of Devonshire, who had arrived on 
the Monday. " But I am told," cried he, " that his 
Grace of Devonshire travels at a prodigious rate ; not 
less than 50 miles a day /" Such was the prejudice of 
ideas, confirmed by long habitude, in a man who never 
extended his journeys further than his Seat in Surrey, 
v. few miles from London; and in Parliament time did 
little more than oscillate between his Town House and 
the House of Commons. — It was a misconception on 
the part of the Duke of Rutland, who understood that 



COACHES. 279 

It cannot be any matter of surprize, after 
so luxurious a conveyance had found its way 
into the Royal Establishment, that it should 
be adopted by others who could support the 
expence, when not curbed by sumptuary laws; 
and we have accordingly seen, that Coaches 
prevailed much, early in the Reign of King 
James ; but Hackney Coaches, which are 
professedly the Subject of this Memoir, waited 
till luxury had made larger strides among us, 
and -till private Coaches came to market at 
second hand. 

Hackney Coach. 

There having always been an imitative 
luxury in mankind, whereby the inferior 
orders might approximate the superior ; so 
those that could not maintain a Coach de die 
in diem contrived a means of having the use 

the King of Prussia was dead, and not King George II. 
I mention the circumstance, only to shew the igno- 
rance of some parts of mankind, when taken out of 
their routine. — The Duke of Devonshire at that time 
usually ran to or from Chatsworth in about 18 or 20 
hours. 



280 DISSERTATION ON 

of one de hord in horam. Hence arose our 
occasional Vehicles called Hackney Coaches. 
The French word Haquene'e* implies a 
common horse for all purposes of riding, 
whether for private use or for hire; generally 
an ambler, as distinguished from the horses 
of superior orders, such as the palfrey and the 
great horse. The former of these are often 
called pad-nags, and were likewise amblers ; 
while horses for draught were called trotting- 
horses f : so that the Haquenee was in fact, 
and in his use, distinct from all the rest, and 
inferior in rank and quality. This term for 
an ambling-nag occurs in Chaucer J. Thus 
we obtained our Haquenee or Hackney 
Horses long before we had any Coaches to 
tack to them ; and the term had likewise, at 
the same time, made its way into metaphor, 
to express any thing much and promiscuously 
used. Thus Shakspeare, who never lived to 
ride in a Hackney Coach, applies the word 
Hackney to a common woman of easy ac- 

* See the French Lexicographers. 

t Northumberland Household Book, p. 127» 

% The Romaunt of the Rose. 



COACHES. 281 

cess*: and again, in the First Part of 
Henry IV. (Act iii. Sc. 4), the King says to 
the Prince of Wales, 

" Had I so lavish of my presence been, 
So common-hackneyed in the eyes of men, 
So stale and cheap to vulgar company," &c. 

Now Shakspeare died in the year 1616; 
whereas Hackney Coaches were not known, 
in the Streets at least, till about the year 
1625 f . 

Though the term Haquene'e is French, it 
is not used in France for Coaches of a like 
kind ; yet, after we had adopted the word as 
applied to horses of the common sort, it was 
easy to put them in harness, for the service 
of drawing, and the convenience of the In- 
habitants of the Metropolis ; whereby the 
word Hackney became transferred to the 
whole Equipage, then in want of a differential 
name; whereof the Coach, being the more 
striking part, obtained the name by pre- 
eminence. 

* Love's Labour's Lost, Actii. Sc. 2. 
t Mortimer's Pocket Dictionary, 



282 DISSERTATION ON 

Before I return to my subject, give me 
leave to add a word or two on the French 
Coaches of a similar nature, which are called 
Fiacres*. The term is thus accounted for, 
though I did not suspect I should have found 
the meaning in a Marty rology. Fiacre was 
the name of a Saint, whose Portrait, like those 
of many other famous men of their times 
both in Church and State, had the honour to 
adorn a Sign-Post; and the Inn in Paris, 
Rue St. Antoine, from which these Coaches 
were first let out to hire on temporary occa- 
sions, had the Sign of St. Fiacre, and from 
thence they took their name. M. Richelet, in 
his Dictionary f, tells us, that a Fiacre is 
" Carosse de loiiage, auquel on a donne ce 
nom a cause de l'Enseigne d'un logis de la 
Rue St. Antoine de Paris ou Ton a premiere- 

* About the same period that our Hackney Coaches 
became in use, a sort of Carriage arose at Paris under 
the name of a Fiacre. I mention them to account for 
the term, which in the common French Dictionaries 
is simply rendered a Hackney Coach. 

t Voc. Fiacre. See also Menage, Orig. de la 
Langue Francoise. 



COACHES. 283 

merit loue* ces sortes de Carosse. Ce logis 
avoit pour Enseigne un Saint Fiacre." As 
to the Saint himself, he was no less a per- 
sonage than the second Son, and at length 
Heir, of Eugenius IV. King of Scots, who 
lived in the Seventh Century. He went into 
France, took a religious habit, refusing the 
Crown of Scotland some years afterwards, 
on his Brother's death; and, when he died, 
was canonized. There is a Chapel dedi- 
cated to him at St. Omer's. His death is 
commemorated on the 30th of August *. 

* English Martyrology. Moreri's Dictionary. 
Collyer. St. Fiacre was the Patron Saint of persons 
afflicted with the Piles. " The Troops of Henry V. 
are said to have pillaged the Chapel of the Highland 
Saiiit; who, in revenge, assisted his Countrymen in 
the French Service to defeat the English at Bauge ; 
and afterwards afflicted Henry with the Piles, of which 
he died. This Prince complained, that he was not 
only plagued by the living Scots, but even perse- 
cuted by those who were dead." Smollett's Travels, 
Letter IV. 

N. B. There was a Prelate of the name Fiachre in 
Ireland, whose death is remembered there on the 8th 
of February. He lived about the same time. [British 
Piety, in the Supplement]. He was not a Saint. 



284 DISSERTATION ON 

As to the the time when the French Fia- 
cres first came into use, we are led pretty 
nearly to it by Mr. Menage, who, in his 
" Origines de la Langue Francoise," pub- 
lished in Quarto, 1650, speaks of them as of 
a late introduction. His words are, " On 
appelle ainsi [Fiacre] a Paris depuis quelques 
annees un Carosse de loiiage." He then gives 
the same reason as we find in Richelet : but 
the words " depuis quelques Annees" shew, 
that those Coaches had not then been long 
in use, and are to be dated either a little 
before or a little after our own ; insomuch 
that it is probable the one gave the example 
to the other, allowing Mr. Menage credit for 
twenty-five years, comprehended in his ex- 
pression of quelques Annees # . 

But to return to our Hackney Coaches, 
which took birth A. D. 1625 (the first year of 
King Charles I.) ; and either began to ply in 

* It is a little singular, that neither Cotgrave him- 
self, in his Dictionary, first published in 1611, nor his 
Editor, James Howell, either in his Edition of 1650, 
or in that of 1673, take any notice of the word Fiacre 
in the sense before us. 



COACHES. 285 

the Streets, or stood ready at Inns to be called 
for if wanted : and at that time did not exceed 
twenty in number *. But, as luxury makes 
large shoots in any branch where it puts 
forth, so we find that, in no more than ten 
years, this new-planted scyon had grown so 
much as to require the pruning-knife; for that 
the Street Coaches had become in reality a 
national nuisance in various particulars : and 
accordingly a Proclamation issued A.D. 1635 
in the following words : 

" That the great numbers of Hackney Coaches of 
late time seen and kept in London, Westminster, and 
their Suburbs, and the general and promiscuous use of 
Coaches there, were not only a great disturbance to his 
Majesty, his dearest Consort the Queen, the Nobility, 
and others of ptace and degree, in their passage through 
the Streets; but the Streets themselves were so pes- 
tered, and the pavements so broken up, that the com- 
mon passage is thereby hindered and made dangerous ; 
and the prices of hay and provender, and other pro- 
visions of stable, thereby made exceeding dear*. 
Wherefore we expressly command and forbid, That, 
from the Feast of St. John the Baptist next coming, no 
Hackney or Hired Coaches be used or suffered in Lon- 

* Anderson on Commerce, II. 20. 



2S6 DISSERTATION ON 

don, Westminster, or the Suburbs or Liberties thereof, 
except they be to travel at least three miles out of 
London or Westminster, or the Suburbs thereof. 
And also, that no person shall go in a Coach in the 
said Streets, except the owner of the Coach shall 
constantly keep up Four able Horses for our Service^ 
when required * . Dated January 19, 1635-6." 

This Proclamation, so long as it was ob- 
served, must have put a considerable check 
to the use of these Carriages ; nor can I think 
it could operate much in the King's favour, 
as it would hardly be worth a Coach-Master's 
while to be at so great a contingent charge 
as the keeping of Four Horses to be fur- 
nished at a moment's warning for his Ma- 
jesty's occasional employment. We are to 
construe this, then, as amounting to a prohi- 
bition, on account of the certain expence 
which must follow an uncertain occupation. 
The nature of this penalty, as I may call it, 
was founded on the Statute of Purveyance, 
not then repealed. 

But there was another co-operating cause 
that suspended the use of Coaches for a short 

* Rymer, torn. XIX. p. 721. 



COACHES. 287 

time, which was the introduction of the 
Hackney Chairs, which took place a very 
little while before the Proclamation, They 
arose from the incommodities stated in the 
Royal Edict, and, no doubt, tended in some 
measure towards the suppression of the Hack- 
ney-Coaches ; till by degrees being found in- 
competent to answer all their seemingly in- 
tended purposes, we shall see the Coaches, in 
about two years time, return into the streets, 
and resume their functions. But to proceed 
with the History of the Chairs. At the cri- 
tical time, then, when Government was de- 
vising measures to prevent th$ increase of 
Coaches as much as possible, for the reasons 
alleged in the Proclamation, there stepped in 
a Knight, by name Sir Saunders Duncombe, 
a Gentleman-Pensioner, and a travelled man, 
who proposed the introduction of Chairs, 
after the model he had seen abroad *. This 
was in the year 1634; when Sir Saunders 

* He was knighted, together with fourteen other 
Gentlemen of the Band, by King James, in Scotland, 
16 17 ; as appears from a Catalogue of Knights, pub- 
lished by J. P. Esq. 1660. 



288 DISSERTATION ON 

obtained an exclusive Patent for the setting 
them forth for hire, dated the first day of 
October, for the term of fourteen years. The 
number is not specified, but left perhaps in- 
definite, it being impossible to say what 
would be necessary in a nevv device of this 
sort, tending to be beneficial to the intro- 
ductor, as well as convenient to the Publick. 
The tenor of the Grant, omitting the words 
of course, runs thus : 

" Charles, &c. 
" Whereas the several Streets and Passages within 
our Cities of London and Westminster, and the Suburbs 
of the same, are of late time so much encumbered and 
pestered with the unnecessary multitude of Coaches 
therein used, that many of our good and loving Sub- 
jects are by that means oftentimes exposed to great 
danger; and the necessary use of Carts and Carriages 
for the necessary Provisions of the said Cities and 
Suburbs thereby also much hindered. And whereas, 
our servant, Sir Sanders Buncombe, Knight, hath lately 
preferred his humble Petition unto us; thereby shew- 
ing, that in many parts beyond the Seas, the people 
there are much carried in the Streets in Chairs that 
are covered ; by which means very few Coaches are 
used amongst them : and thereof he hath humbly 
besought us to grant unto him the sole using and 



COACHES. 289 

putting forth to hire of certain covered Chairs, which 
he will procure to be made at his own proper costs 
and charges, for carrying such of our loving Subjects as 
shall desire to use the same, in and about our said Cities 
of London and Westminster, and the Suburbs thereof. 

" Know ye, that we, of our princely care of the good 
and welfare of all our loving Subjects, desiring to use 
all good and lawful ways and means that may tend to 
the suppressing of the excessive and unnecessary 
number of Coaches now of late used in and about our 
said Cities, and the Suburbs thereof; and to the in- 
tent the said Sir Sanders Buncombe may reap some 
fruit and benefit of his industry, and may recompense 
himself of the costs, charges, and expences, which he 
shall be at in and about the directing, making, pro- 
curing, and putting in use of the said covered Chairs, 
of the purpose aforesaid ; and for divers other good 
causes and considerations, us hereunto moving, of our 
special grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion, 
have given and granted, and by these Presents, for Us, 
our Heirs and Successors, do give and grant, unto the 
said Sir Sanders Buncombe, his Executors, Adminis- 
trators, and Assigns, and to his and their, and every of 
their, Deputy and Deputies, Servants, Workmen, 
Factors, and Agents, and to all and every such per- 
son and persons as shall have power and authority 
from him, them, or any of them, in that behalf, full 
and free Licence, Privilege, Power, and Authority* 
that they only, and none other, shall or may, from time 
to time, during the term of fourteen years hereafter 

U 



290 DISSERTATION ON 

granted, use r put forth, and lett to hire, within our 
said Cities of London and Westminster, and the Suburbs 
and Precincts thereof, or in any part of them, or any 
of them, the said covered Chairs, to be carried and 
borne as aforesaid. 

"Witness Ourself at Canbuiy, the First day of 
October *." 

The place principally hinted at in the above 
Grant, or Patent, seems to have been the City 
of Sedan in Champagne ; where, we are at 
liberty to suppose, these covered Chairs being 
most in use, they obtained with us the name 
of Sedan Chairs, like the local names of 
Berlin and Landau f . 

These new Vehicles, hitherto unseen in 
our orbit, had, doubtless, patrons among the 
beaus and fine gentlemen of the age ; though, 
in their general utility, they manifestly could 
not be so commodious as Coaches, were it 

* Rymer, torn. XIX. p. 572. 

f Mr. Reed, the Editor of the Old Plays [2d Edit. 
1780], from the above account, must therefore certainly 
be in an error, when he supposes that Sedan Chairs 
were the introduction of the Duke of Buckingham, 
about the year 1619. [See Note to vol. V. p. 475,] 

Sedan — mentioned by the name only in the Life of 
Dr. Thomas Fuller, 1661, 18mo. p. 57. 



COACHES* 291 

for no other reason than that they could 
carry but one person. They might prevail 
with persons of a certain rank and descrip- 
tion ; but the opulent Merchant* and others 
in a similar line of family life, still were in 
want of a conveyance of greater capacity ; a 
circumstance which would depress the Chairs, 
and gradually hasten the re-introduction of 
the Coaches, and which, as has been ob- 
served, took place accordingly in little more 
than two years. The following special com- 
mission was therefore granted by the King, 
A. D. 1637, wherein the number of the 
Coaches seems rather to have enlarged, and 
the management of them was placed in the 
department of the Master of the Horse. It 
runs essentially in the following words : 

" That we, finding it very requisite for our Nobility 
and Gentry, as well as for Foreign Ambassadors, 
Strangers, and others, that there should be a compe- 
tent number of Hackney Coaches allowed for such, 
uses, have, by the advice of our Privy Council, 
thought fit to allow Fifty Hackney Coachmen in and 
about London and Westminster; limiting them not to 
keep above Twelve Horses a-piece. We therefore 
grant to you [the Marquis] during your Life, the 
Power and Authority to license Fifty Hackney Coach- 

u2 



292 DISSERTATION ON 

men, who shall keep no more than Twelve good 
Horses each, for their, or any of their, Coach and 
Coaches respectively. You also hereby have Power 
to license so many in other Cities and Towns of Eng- 
land as in your wisdom shall be thought necessary ; 
with power to restrain and prohibit all others from 
keeping any Hackney Coach to let to hire, either in 
London or elsewhere. Also to prescribe Rides and 
Orders concerning the daily Prices of the said licensed 
Hackney Coachmen, to be by them, or any of them, 
taken for our own particular service, and in their em- 
ployment for our Subjects; provided such orders be 
first allowed by us, under our Royal Hand." * 

We may observe that the article of Purvey- 
ance is here very gently touched upon, and con- 
fined to a sign-manual. Mr.Andersonsupposes 
that there must have been man y more thanjifty 
Coaches introduced by the above allowance of 
twelve horses ; but it seems rather to imply 
that no Coach -Master should engross more 
than six Coaches to himself. This also might 
be a tacit mode of preserving a supply of horses 
to be purveyed for the King when necessary. 

One may collect from hence that private 
Coaches were sparingly kept, by the men- 
tion of the Nobility and Gentry. 

* Rymer, torn. XX. fol. 159. 



COACHES. 293 

Hitherto we have found the Hackney 
Coaches under the regulation of the Crown, 
or its immediate Officers ; but we are now to 
look for them at a time when the Monarchical 
Government was suspended, during the Pro- 
tectorate. Whether the Master of the Horse 
received any emolument from granting the 
above Licences, is not apparent ; but under 
the Commonwealth we find that the Coaches 
became subject to a tax towards the expence 
of their regulation ; for by an Act of Oliver's 
Parliament, A. D. 1654, the number of such 
Coaches, within London and Westminster, 
was enlarged to two hundred *. The out- 
lying distance was also augmented to six 
miles round the late lines of communication, 
as the Statute expresses it ; by which I con- 
ceive that the greatest distance was extended 
to nine miles, including the three prescribed, 

*' Anderson says three hundred, but that must be an 
error ; for the Docquet of the Act in Scobel says, 
that " the number of persons keeping Hackney 
Coaches shall not at one time exceed two hundred." 
This must apply to the number of Carriages ; and so 
Sir William Blackstone understood it. Commenta- 
ries, vol. I, 4to, 



294 DISSERTATION ON 

or rather enjoined, by the regulating procla- 
mation of King Charles I. in the year 1635. 
By this Act of Oliver's Parliament, the go- 
vernment of the Hackney Coaches, with 
respect to their stands, rates, &c. was placed 
in the Court of Aldermen of London ; and 
as, of course, this new business would re- 
quire Clerks, and other officers, to supervise 
it, the Coach-Masters were made subject to 
the payment of twenty shillings yearly for 
every such Coach. 

Here we have brought the Coaches under 
a Police similar to that of our own time ; 
but it did not long remain in the hands of 
the Corporation ; for in the year after the 
Restoration, the establishment was new-mo- 
delled by an Act of the 13th aqd 14th of 
King Charles II. 1661, wherein it is spe- 
cified that no Coaches were to be used with- 
out a Licence, — who may be entitled to such 
Licences,— that the number shall not exceed 
400, — what shall be the rates, — -with penal- 
ties for exacting more *. 

Each of these four hundred Coaches so 

* See the Act in the Statute Book. 



COACHES. 295 

licensed was obliged to pay annually five 
pounds for the privilege, to be applied to- 
wards the keeping in repair certain parts of 
the streets of London and Westminster* ; a 
very rational appropriation of such fund, for 
who ought so much to contribute to the 
amendment of the streets, as those who lived 
by their demolition ? 

" Nex Lex aequior ulla, quam," &c. 

Within a few years after the Revolution 
(anno 5 Gul. et Mar. ch. xxii.) the number 
of Coaches arose to seven hundred, each of 
which paid to the Crown annually four 
pounds. This, prima facie, one would sup- 
pose was a relief to the Coach -Masters, and 
that the reduction in the impost accrued from 
the number ; but that was not the case, for 
every Owner, for each Coach, was constrained 
to pay down fifty pounds for his first Li- 
cence for twenty-one years, or forego his em- 
ployment ; which seeming indulgence was, in 
fact, paying five pounds per annum for that 
term ; whereas, probably, the Coach-Master 

* Anderson, II. 115. Journals of the House of 
Commons. Blackstone. 



296 DISSERTATION" ON 

would rather have continued at the former 
five pounds, and have run all risks, than have 
purchased an exclusive privilege, in the gross, 
at so high a price. 

The finances, and even the resources, of 
Government, must have been very low at this 
moment, or Ministry could never have stooped 
to so paltry and oppressive an expedient, to 
raise so small a sum as would arise from these 
Licences. By the increase of the number of 
Coaches from four hundred at five pounds 
per annum, to seven hundred at four pounds 
per annum, the gain to the Treasury was 
^.800 annually: — and what did the licences 
at fifty pounds each Coach, for the term of 
twenty-one years, yield to the State ? — 
<sfi.3,500 ! Whereas, had such lease of the 
privilege of driving a Coach been kept at the 
rack rent of five pounds per annum, it had 
produced in that period ^.14,700. 

Thus, however, the matter rested, till the 
ninth year of Queen Anne, lJTlO, when a Sta- 
tute was made, which brought the business 
to its present standard, with a few variations, 
which will be observed in the order of time. 
By this Act every circumstance was new 



COACHES. 297 

modelled ; for thereby the Crown was im- 
powered to appoint five Commissioners for 
regulating and licensing both Hackney 
Coaches and Chairs, from the time the late 
Statute of the fifth of William and Mary 
should expire, viz. at Midsummer A. D. 
1715, authorizing such Commissioners to 
grant licences to eight hundred Hackney 
Coaches from that time for the term of thirty- 
two years, which should be allowed to be 
driven in the Cities of London and West- 
minster, and the Suburbs thereof, or any 
where within the Bills of Mortality; each 
Coach paying for such privilege the sum of 
five shillings per week *. It was at the same 
time enacted, that from the 24th of June, 
I7II, all horses to be used with an Hackney 
Coach shall be fourteen hands high, accord- 
ing to the standard ; and further, that every 
Coach and Chair shall have a mark of dis- 
tinction, " by figure or otherwise," as the 
Commissioners shall think fit ; and " the said 
mark shall be placed on each side of every 
such Coach and Chair respectively, in the 

* By Monthly Payments. 



298 DISSERTATION ON 

most convenient place to be taken notice of, 
to the end that they may be known if any 
complaints shall be made of them *." 

This was all that could then be done re- 
specting the Coaches, forasmuch as the old 
term of twenty-one years, granted in the fifth 
year of William and Mary, 1694, was sub- 
sisting, whereby seven hundred Coaches were 
allowed, and for which privilege the Owners 
had paid fifty pounds each, on whom Go- 
vernment shewed some tenderness. With re- 
gard, however, to regulation, &c. there was, 
no doubt, room sufficient for the exercise of 
the powers given to the Commissioners. 
There was, likewise, another object involved 
in this Statute ; viz. the Chaii^s, which were 
not comprehended in the same agreement 
and contract with the Coaches, but were 
open immediately to new laws. Therefore 
under the same commissions was placed the 
management and licensing of the Hackney 
Chairs, to commence from the 24th of June 
in the following year, 17H> for the said term 

* The Figures of the Chairs are too small and incon- 
spicuous; there should be one both on the outside 
and inside of each. 



COACHES. 299 

of thirty-two years ; which were thereby 
limited to the number of two hundred, each 
paying for such licence the annual sum of 
ten shillings *.■ As the number of both 
Coaches and Chairs was enlarged, whereby 
many new persons would come forward, per- 
haps to the ousting of the old Coach-Masters 
and Chair-Masters, it is required by this Act 
that the Commissioners shall give a pre- 
ference to such of the Lessees, as I may call 
them, whose terms had not then expired, 
whether the right remained in themselves or 
their widows, if they applied within a given 
time \. 

Bv this statute likewise the rates were 
limited to time and distance, at ten shillings 
by the Day. — -One shilling and six pence for 

* By Quarterly Payments. Thus the Power of the 
Commissioners over the Chairs arose before that over 
the Coaches. 

f Some Lawsuits having arisen from this Clause, 
it was explained by a short Act of the 12th year of the 
Queen (1713), subjecting such Widows to the same 
Rules, Penalties, &c. made, or to be made, as any 
acting Chairman. And thus it continues to this day ; 
for the owner of a. Figure, as it is called, is answerable 
for certain faults of his or her assignee. 



300 DISSERTATION ON 

the first Hour, and one shilling for every suc- 
ceeding Hour. — One shilling for the distance 
of a mile and a half. — One shilling and six 
pence for any distance more than a mile and 
a half, and not exceeding two miles ; and so 
on, in the proportion of six pence for every 
succeeding half mile. 

The Chairs are likewise at the same time 
rated at two-thirds of the distance prescribed 
to the Coaches, so that they were allowed 
to take one shilling for a mile, and six pence 
for every succeeding half mile. 

Though the time of waiting is not specified 
in the Act with regard to the Chairs, yet it fol- 
lows, by implication, to be intended the same 

as the Coaches. These have been altered bv a 

j 

very late Statute, 1785. It is well known that 
it is left in the option of either Coachmen or 
Chairmen, whether they will be paid by the 
distance or the time, which is but a reason- 
able privilege ; but there is another circum- 
stance, not generally known, of which the 
passengers are not perhaps aware, viz. that 
if the room which a Coach will ' occupy in 
turning about should exceed the distance 



COACHES. 301 

allowed, the Coachman is entitled to a larger 
fare, that is, as much as if he had gone an- 
other half mile. The doctrine is the same 
respecting Chairs, and the room allowed is 
eight yards in the case of a Coach, and four 
yards in the case of a Chair. As the Statute 
gives all competent allowances to the Coach- 
men and Chairmen, so it was requisite, on the 
other hand, to make the contract obligatory, 
and that each of them should be compellable 
to perform their parts ; and therefore, to do 
this, and at the same time to prevent extor- 
tion, it became necessary to add a severe 
penal clause, viz. " that if any Hackney- 
Coachman or Chairman shall refuse to go 
at, or shall exact more for his hire than, the 
several rates hereby limited, he shall, for every 
such offence, forfeit the sum of forty shil- 
lings" These penalties were, by this Act, to 
have gone in the proportion of tivo-thir&s to 
the Queen, and o?ze-third to the Plaintiff. 
[Since made half to the Crown and half to the 
Complainant.] The Coachmen and Chairmen 
are thereby likewise liable to be deprived of 
their Licences for misbehaviour, or by giving 



302 DISSERTATION OR 

abusive language *. On the other hand, that 
the Coachmen and Chairmen might have a 
remedy in ease of refusal to pay them their 
just fare, any Justice of the Peace is im- 
powered, upon complaint, to issue a warrant 
to bring before him the Recusant, and to 
award reasonable satisfaction to the party ag- 
grieved, or otherwise to bind him over to the 
next Quarter- Session, where the Bench is em- 
powered to levy the said satisfaction by dis- 
tress. The Act proceeds to other matters 
touching the Commissioners themselves, &c. ; 
and then states, that whereas by a Statute of 
the 29th of Charles II. the use of all Hackney 
Coaches and Chairs had been prohibited on 
Sundays, it gives full power both to stand 
and to ply as on other days, f 

This is the substance of the Act before us ; 
but it may here be observed, that in the 10th 
year of the Queen, lfll, one hundred more 
Chaiis were added by Statute, subject to the 
same regulations as the rest, being found not 

* Turned afterwards into a mulct. 
t Restrained by a subsequent Act 



COACHES, 303 

only convenient but necessary ; as the num- 
ber of Coaches, consistently with Public 
Faith, could not be enlarged till the year 
1715, when the old term of twenty-one years 
should have expired. 

Before all the provisions in the Act of the 
year 17 10, referred to the future period of 
1715, could take place, a demise of the 
Crown intervened, A. D. 1714, by which all 
such clauses, which extended to a future time, 
were of course become a nullity. 

By Act 12 George I. chap. 12, the number 
of Chairs was raised to 400, on account of the 
increase of Buildings Westward. 



# * # 



# JL 



t The MS here ends abruptly. — On the subject of 
Chairs, however, see Acts 3 Geo. I. chap. 7 ; 16 Geo. II. 
chap. 26; 20 Geo. II. chap. 10; 30 Geo. II. chap. 22; 
33 Geo. II. chap. 25. 



304 COACHES. 



The Hammer Cloth. 

To shew how trifling, though necessary 
conveniences, arise to great and expensive 
luxuries, let us remark the original insignifi- 
cant appendage of what we call the Ham- 
mer Cloth. It was requisite that the Coach- 
man should have a few implements in case 
of accidents, or a sudden and little repair was 
wanting to the Coach ; for which purpose he 
carried a hammer with a few pins, nails, &c. 
with him, and placed them under his seat, 
made hollow to hold them, and which from 
thence was called the Coach Box ; and, in a 
little time, in order to conceal this unsightly 
appearance, a cloth was thrown over the box 
and its contents, of which a hammer was the 
chief, and thence took the name of the Ham- 
mer-Cloth. This is my idea of the etymon 
of these two common terms. And here 
again it can but be observed that this little 
appendage is now become the most striking 
and conspicuous ornament of the equipage. 



305 



fettles of Bress& 



GLOVES. 

About the year 790, Charlemagne granted 
an unlimited right of hunting to the Abbot 
and Monks of Sithin, for making their 
Gloves and Girdles of the Skins of the Deer 
they killed, and Covers for their Books. 
[Mabillon de Re Diplom. p. 611. Grose/] 

Anciently richly adorned and decorated 
with precious Stones, — -as in the Rolls of 
Parliament, anno 53 Hen. III. A. D. 1267. 
" Et de 2 Paribus Chirothecarum cum lapidi- 
bus." [Warton's History of Poetry, vol. L 
p. 182, note. Grose.] 

Edward Vere, Earl of Oxford, according 
to Mr. Wal pole's account, on the authority 
of Stowe, — u having travelled into Italy, is 
recorded to have been the first that brought 
into England embroidered Gloves and Per- 
fumes ; and presenting the Queen [Eli- 
zabeth] with a Pair of the former, she was 

x 



306 GLOVES. 

so pleased with them, as to be drawn with 
them in one of her Portraits." [Royal and 
Noble Authors, vol. i. p. 159. Note to 
Winter's Tale, edit. Johnson and Steevens, 
1778, p. 388.] 

" Give Gloves to the Reapers, a Largesse to cry." 
[Tusser, v. Hist, of Hawsted. 190.] 

The Monastery of Bury allowed its Ser- 
vants two pence apiece for Glove- Silver in 
Autumn. [Hist, of Hawsted. 190.] 

The rural Bridegroom, in Laneham's (or 
Langham's) Account of the Entertainment 
of Queen Elizabeth at Kenelvvorth Castle, 
1575, had — a Payr of Harvest Gloves on his 
Hands, as a sign of good Husbandry. Id. 
in eod. 

When Sir Thomas Pope, the Founder of 
Trinity College, Oxford, visited it, 1556, 
iC The Bursars offered him a present of em- 
broidered Gloves" [Warton's Life of Sir 
Thomas Pope, p. 119.] 

When Sir Thomas Pope had founded the 
College, the University complimented him 
with a Letter of Thanks, which was accorn- 



GLOVES. 307 

pahied with a Present of rich Gloves, 1556. 
[Warton's Life, p. 132, note.] The Gloves 
were sent both to himself and Lady, and cost 
6s. 8d. [Id. in eod.] 

After the death of Sir Thomas Pope, his 
Widow married Sir Hugh Powlett ; on which 
occasion the College presented her, as the 
Wife of the Founder, with a Pair of very rich 
Gloves, the charge for which runs — Pro Pari 
Chirothecarum dat. Dom. Powlett et Domine 
Fundatrici, xvi s. Idem, p. 185. See also 
p. 191, ubi ssepe; and p. 411. " Pro Chi- 
rothecis Magistri Pope, xxxii s. 

An article charged in the Bursar's books of 
Trinity College, Oxford, is "pro fumigatis 
Chirothecis." [Warton.] These were often 
given to College -Tenants, and Guests of 
Distinction ; but this fell into disuse soon 
after the Reign of Charles I. Idem. 
[Grose.] 

George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, re- 
ceived a Glove from Queen Elizabeth. The 
Queen had dropped it, when he taking it up 
to return to her, she presented it to him as a 
mark of her esteem. He adorned it with 

x2 



308 GLOVES.- 

Jewels, and wore it in the front of his Hat 
on days of Tournaments. It is expressed in a 
print of him by Robert White. [Bray's 
Tour, p. 319.] 

See for Gloves worn in Hats, Old Plays, 
vol. ii. p. 132, second edition : King Lear, 
act iii. sc. 4. edit. 177^ by Johnson and 
Steevens. 

N. B. Such Tokens as these were called 
Favours *, from whence we derive the term 
for Ribbons given on Weddings. I presume 
they are supposed to be given by the hand of 
the Bride. 

Dr. Glisson, in his last visit to Queen 
Elizabeth, received from her a Pair of rich 
Spanish leather Gloves, embossed on the 
backs and tops with gold embroidery, and 
fringed round with gold plate. The Queen, 
as he tells us, pulled them from her own 
Royal Hands, saying, " Here, Glisson, wear 
them for my sake." Life of Corinna (or 
Mrs. Eliz. Thomas), p. xxxi. 

* See Walpole's Royal and Noble Authors, vol. i 
p, 131. So Shakspeare, Richard II. act v. sc. 2, 



GLOVES. 809 

Perfumed Gloves * ; v. supra. 

"These Gloves the Count sent me; they are an 
excellent Perfume." 

Much Ado about Nothing, act ii. sc. 4. 

Gloves given at Weddings. Old Plays, 
% r ol. v. p. 8. 

A Glove hung up in a Church, as a 
public Challenge. Gilpin's Life of Bernard 
Gilpin, by Mr. Gilpin, p. 1/9. 

Swearing by Gloves, in jocular conversa- 
tion, very common. " Aye, by these Gloves !" 
is an expression I have somewhere seen. 

Ladies' Sleeves, as well as Gloves, were 
worn as tokens of Gallantry. Vide Troil. 
and Cress, act. v. sc. 2. edit Johnson and 
Steevens, 177& 

Gifts that admitted of it (especially to 
Women from Men) were usually worn on 
the Sleeve. 

" I knew her by this Jewel on her Sleeve" 

Love's Labour Lost, act v. sc. I. 

* Mistress of the Sweet- Coffers, occurs in the Old 
Establishments. The present Queen (Charlotte) has 
iier Gloves kept in a perfumed box. 



310 GLOVES. 

Fairings, and such Tokens, were of this 

sort. Hence the Question and Answer. 

Q. What have you brought me ? (from the Fair, &c.) 
A. A new nothing, to pin on your Sleeve. 

Hence also to pin one's Faith upon an- 
other's Sleeve. 

"Wear my Heart upon my Sleeve." 

Othello, act i. sc. 1. 

* 

F. Grose, Esq. to S. Pegge, F. S. A. 

Dear Sir, Sept ember 4, 1784. 

I have had such a variety of interruptions 
(agreeable ones), that I have made no hand 
of your Gloves : all that has occurred on that 
subject, I here send you. 

Blood, who attempted to steal the Crown, 
presented Mr. Edwards, Keeper of the Jewel 
Office, with jfcmr Pair of White Gloves, as 
from his Wife, in gratitude for his civility 
to her in a pretended qualm or sickness. 
The whole transaction is in Maitland's His- 

torv of London. 

j 

To give one's Glove was considered as a 
challenge. See Shakspeare, in Hen. V. It 



GLOVES. 311 

Is still considered in that light by the High- 
landers, of which I once saw an instance in 
Flanders. Dropping the Gauntlet, at the 
Coronation, is a kind of challenge. 

When the Judge invites the Justices to 
dine with him at a County Assize, a Glove 
is handed about by the Crier or Clerk of the 
Court, who delivers the invitation ; into this 
Glove every one invited puts a shilling. 

A Bribe is called a Pair of Gloves. 

In a Play, I think called the Twin Rivals, 
an Alderman presents his Glove, filled with 
Broad Pieces, to a Nobleman, as a Bribe to 
procure a Commission for his Son. 

Item, for three dozen Leder Gloves, 12s. 
Vide Account of Henry VII. in Remem- 
brancer's Office. 

I set off next week for Christchureh, where 
I propose staying a month, or six weeks at 
farthest. My best wishes attend you and 



yours. 



Adieu ! 

F. Grose. 



312 
ERMINE. 

GENTLEWOMEN'S APPAREL. 

What we call Ermine is an erroneous con- 
ception, for we give the name to White Fur 
tufted with Black, whereas it is the Black 
only that is properly Ermine, of which num- 
berless instances may be produced, and this 
is one. 

Powderings on her Bonnet. — This may 
require an explanation to those who are un- 
acquainted with the language of that age. 
What we call Ermine, is a compound, which 
will bear a little analysis, for it is formed of 
the Fur of one animal, and the tip of the Tail 
of another. The White Ground is, pro- 
perly speaking, Minever, so called from a 
Russian animal of that name. [v. Philips's 
Dictionary, in voce^ The Ermine is the 
Armenian Mouse, the tip of whose Tail is 
Black, which being placed as a falling tuft 
upon the Minever, forms what we collective- 
ly call Ermine, the value of which is en- 



ERMINE. 313 

hanced the more, as one animal can afford 
but one tuft. [v. Bailey's Diet, in voce.] 
Every one of these tufts is termed a Pow- 
dering. 

The Heralds make a distinction between 
the singular Ermine, and the Plural, jE/v 
mines ; the latter, in their language, im- 
porting Black powdered with White : and 
they go into still more minute modifications, 
Erminois, &c. 

Apparel for the Heads op 
Gentlewomen. 

First, none shall wear an Ermine, or Let* 
tice-Bonnet, unless she be a Gentlewoman 
born, having Arms. 

Item, a Gentleman's Wife, she being a 
Gentlewoman born, shall wear an Ermine or 
Lettice Bonnet, having one Powdering in 
the Top. And if she be of honourable stock, 
to have two Powderings, one before another, 
in the Top. 

Item, an Esquire's Wife to have two 
Powderings. 



314 ERMINE. 

Item, an Esquires Wife/br the Body to 
wear Jive Powderings ; and if she be of great 
Blood, two before, which maketh seven. 

Item, a Knight's Wife to wear on her 
Bonnet, seven Powderings, or eight at the 
most, because of higher Blood, as before. 

Item, a Banneret's Wife to wear ten Pow- 
derings. 

Item, a Barons Wife thirteen. 

Item, a Viscount' s\yV'ife]to wear eighteen. 

Item, a Countess to wear twenty-four. 
And above that Estate the number conve- 
nient, at their pleasures. 

Ex Bibl. Harl. No. 1776. fol. 31. b, 

MOURNING. 

The French Queens, before the Reign of 
Charles VIII. wore White upon the death 
of the King ; and were called " Reines 
Blanches'' It was changed to Black on the 
death of Charles VIII. 1498. [See P. Dan. 
Hist. iv. 590.] 

In a Wardrobe account for half a year, to 
Lady-day 1684 (a MS. purchased by Mr. 
Brander at the sale of the Library of Geo. 



MOURNING. 315 

Scot, Esq. of Woolston-Hall, 1781), are the 
following entries for the King's Mourning. 

" A Grey Coat lined with Murrey and 
White flowered Silk, with Gold Loops, and 
four Crape Hat-bands. " 

Again, " A Sad- coloured Silk Coat, lined 
with Gold-striped Lutestring, with Silver- 
and-Silk Buttons ; and a Purple Crape Hat- 
band." 

Again, " A Purple Coat." 

The Emperor Leopold, who died 1705, 
never shaved his Beard during the time of 
Mourning, which often lasted for a long 
time. [Bancks's Hist, of Austria, p. 2/7-] 

The Empress-Dowagers never lay aside 
their Mourning, and even their Apartments 
are hung with Black till their deaths. 
[Bancks's Hist, of Austria, p. 400. He says 
this from Baron Polnitz's Memoirs, vol. iv. 
p. 46.] 

The Bavarian Family never give a Black 
Livery, or line their Coaches, in the deepest 
Mourning. [Polnitz, i. letter 22.] 

The Pope's Nieces never wear Mourning, 
not even for their nearest Relations ; as the 
Romans reckon it so great a happiness for a 



316 MOURNING. 

Family to have a Pope in it, that nothing 
ought to afflict his Holiness's kindred. [Pol- 
nitz's Memoirs, ii. letter 33.] 

Queen Anne, on the death of Prinee 
George of Denmark, wore Black and White, 
with a mixture of Purple in some part of her 
Dress. The precedent was taken from that 
worn by Mary Queen of Scots for the Earl 
of Darnley, which was exactly in point. 
[Secret History of England, ii. 299.] 

King Charles I. put the Court into Mourn- 
ing for one Day on the death of the Earl of 
Portland (Richard Weston), Lord High 
Treasurer. [Stafford's Letters, i. 389.] 

BEARD, &c. 
CHARLES I. *— WILLIAM L 

Mrs. Thomas's Great Grand-Father was 
Mr. Richard Shute, a Turkey Merchant, one 
of the Members for the City of London, and 
much favoured by King Charles I. who gave 

* See "The Life of Corinna," or Mrs. Elizabeth 
Thomas, Jun. Printed in 1731. 



BEARD, &C. 317 

him the Name of Sattin-Shute, by way of 
distinction from another Branch of the same 
Name and Family, and from his usually 
wearing a Sattin Doublet cut upon White 
Taffata. 

" Without doubt/' says Mrs. Thomas (for 
she was her own Biographer), " he was very 
nice in the mode of that Age, his Valet being 
some hours every morning in starching his 
Beard, and curling his Whiskers ; but," con- 
tinues she, " during that time a Gentleman, 
whom he maintained as a Companion, always 
read to him on some useful subject." He lived 
in Leaden-Hall Street, the site on which stands 
the India House, and had a Country-seat at 
Berking, in Essex. Here he had a very 
fine Bowling-green, as he delighted much in 
that exercise. The King, who was fond of 
the diversion, once told Mr. Shute, he would 
dine with him some day, and try his skill on 
his Bowling-green. The King went, and 
was so pleased with the place, it being very 
retired, and likewise with Mr. Shute's skill 
in Bowling (he being accounted one of the 
best Bowlers of his time), that he frequently 



318 ANECDOTE OF CHARLES I. 

visited afterwards Berking-Hall, without any 
Guards, and with three or four select Gen- 
tlemen, his attendants, when, as the King ex- 
pressed it, he had a mind to drop State, and 
enjoy himself as a private man:- — " Ah, 
Shute," said he one day, with a deep sigh, 
u how much happier than I art thou, in this 
blessed retirement, free from the cares of a 
Crown, a factious Ministry, and rebellious 
Subjects !" They generally played high, 
and punctually paid their losings ; and 
though Mr. Shute often won, yet the King 
would, one day, set higher than usual, and, 
having lost several games, gave over ; when 
Mr. Shute said, — " An please your Majesty, 
One thousand pounds rubber more, perhaps 
Luck may turn :"— " No, Shute," replied the 
King, laying his hand gently on his shoulder, 
" Thou hast won the day, and much good may 
it do thee, but I must remember I have a 
Wife and Children" P. xxi. 

This place was afterwards dismantled by 
Mr. Shute's heir, and in a few years became 
a ploughed field. The King gave Mr. Shute 
several places ; among which were the Deputy 



ANECDOTE OF WILLIAM I. 319 

Lieutenancy of the Ordnance, and the Mas- 
tership of St. Cross's Hospital, to the amount 
of four thousand pounds per annum. P. xxv. 

These he gave up when the Civil War 
broke out ; and retired to Hamburgh, where 
he died a few years after the death of the 
King. P. xxvii. 

William the Conqueror played deep ; for, 
tradition says, that Walter Fitzbourne, a 
Norman Knight, and great Favourite of the 
King, playing at Chess on a Summer's even- 
ing, on the banks of the Ouse, with the 
King, won all he played for. The King 
threw down the Board, saying he had nothing 
more to play for. " Sir," said Sir Walter, 
" here is land." " There is so," replied the 
King ; " and if thou beatest me this Game 
also, thine be all the Land on this side the 
Bourne, or River, which thou canst see as 
thou sittest." He had the good fortune to 
win; and the King, clapping him on the 
shoulder, said, " Henceforth thou shalt no 
more be called Fitzbourne, but Ousebourne!' 
Hence it is supposed came the name of Os- 
borne. Life of Corinna, p. xxviii. 



320 



Westminster. 

Lord Coke, in his 3d Inst. (cap. 51.) 
speaking of the City of Westminster, says, 
" It hath its name of ' the Monastery/ which 
Minster signifieth, and it is called West- 
minster, in respect of jEasfminster, not far 
from the Tower of London. This West- 
minster, Sebert, the first King of the East 
Saxons that was christened, founded." It is 
added in a note in the margin, Segbert began 
his Reign A. D. 603. 

Lord Coke, however excellent a Lawyer, 
I fear was but a bad Antiquary ; for the re- 
verse rather seems to be the oase, as it will 
appear that Eastmmster was so called in 
respect of Westminster. For in Stowe's 
Survey of London (edit. 1633), p. 497, ne 
gives the following account of the Founda- 
tion of the Church of Westminster : — " This 
Monasterie was founded and builded in the 
year 605, by Sebert, King of the East Saxons, 
upon the perswasion of Ethelbert, King of 



WESTMINSTER. 321 

Kent, who* having embraced Christianity $ 
and being baptized by Melitus, Bishop of 
London, immediately (to shew himself a 
Christian indede) built a Church to the ho- 
nor of God and St. Peter, on the West side of 
the City of London, in a place, which (be- 
cause it was overgrown with thornes, and 
environed with water) the Saxons called 
' Tbornez,' or ' Thorney ;'.... whereupon, 
partly from the situation to the TVest, and 
partly from the Monasterie ovMinster, it began 
to take the name of Westminster ;" and then 
he goes on with the history of that Church. 

So far of Westminster. Of Eastminster 
Stowe gives the following account, by which 
it will appear that the foundation of East- 
minster was subsequent to that of Westmin- 
ster, by at least *JQQ years. a In the year 
1348," says he, " the 23d of Edward the 
Third, the first great Pestilence in his time 
began, and increased so sore* that for want of 
roome in Church-yards to bury the dead of 
the City and of the Suburbs, one John Corey, 
Gierke, procured of Nicholas, Prior of the 
Holy Trinity within Ealdgate, one toft of 

Y 



322 WESTMINSTER. 

ground neere unto East Smithfield, for the 
buriall of them that dyed ; with condition, 
that it might be called the Church-yard of 
the Holy Trinity : which ground he caused, 
by the ayd of divers devout Citizens, to be 
inclosed with a wall of stone ; . . . . and the 
same was dedicated by Ralfe Stratford, Bishop 
of London, where innumerable bodies of the 
dead were afterwards buried, and a Chapel 
built in the same place to the honour of 
God ; to the which King Edward setting his 
eye (having before, in a tempest on the sea, 
and peril of drowning, made a vow to build 
a Monastery to the honour of God, and our 
Lady of Grace, if God would give him 
grace to come safe to land), builded there a 
Monasterie, causing it to be named East- 
minster, placing an Abbot and Monks of the 
Cistercian or White order." P. 11/. 

In Stowe, p. 7515 is a list of all the " Pa- 
trones of all the Benefices in London," in 
which this Foundation seems to be twice 
mentioned, first as the " Abbev of White 
Monks," and then as " Mary de Grace, an 
Abbey of Monkes, by theTowre of London." 



323 
MEMORANDA 

RELATIVE TO THE 

§bmzt$ of tfje Cetttpie, 

LONDON ; 

Written in or about the Year 1*60. 

The Societies of the Temple have no 
Charter; but the Fee was granted by a Patent 
to the Professors and Students of the Law, to 
them and their Successors for ever. 

The King is Visitor of the Temples ; and 
orders have been sent down from him so 
lately as Charles the Second's time, for the 
Regulation of them, which were brought in 
great form by the Lord Chancellor and twelve 
Judges, and signed by them. 

The Discipline of these Societies was for- 
merly, till within these eighty years, very 
strict. The Students appeared, upon all oc- 
casions, and in all places, in their proper 
habits ; and for neglecting to appear in such 

y2 



324 MEMORANDA RELATIVE TO 

habit, or for want of decency in it, they were 
punished by being put two years backward 
in their standing. This habit was discon- 
tinued, because the Templars having been 
guilty of riots in some parts of the town, 
being known by their habits to be such, a 
reproach was thereby reflected on the So- 
ciety, for want of discipline. 

Commons. — Till there was a relaxation of 
discipline, the Commons were continued in 
the Vacation as Well as in the Terms ; and 
the Members obliged to attend, upon severe 
penalties for neglect of it. The Barristers, 
though they were called to their degree, were 
not admitted to practise, but by special leave 
from the Judges, till three years after their 
call, during which their attendance to Com- 
mon Sj both in Term and Vacation, was not 
to be compounded for, or dispensed with. 

The Law Societies were, at first, under 
one general regulation and establishment, till 
they branched out, and divided, as it were, 
into Colonies. The Societies of each Temple 
are very zealous in contending for the Anti- 
quity of their Society. 



THE SOCIETY OF THE TEMPLE. 325 

The Society of the Middle Temple must 
now be very rich ; and it consists in money, 
they having no real estate. I have been as* 
sured, that the certain yearly expences of it, 
exclusive of repairs, amounts to a considera- 
ble sum. 

The Benchers are generally in number 
about twenty, though there is no fixed num-? 
ber. They may be called to the Bench at 
eighteen or twenty years standing. The 
Bench have power to call whom they think 
proper of such standing to the Bench; which 
if they answer not, they pay a Fine of Fifty 
Pounds. 

The Benchers eat at their own expence in 
this Society, having nothing allowed but 
their Commons ; which few, I believe none, 
of the Benchers of the other Houses do. 

The Readings, which generally were upon 
some Statute, continued about eight days, 
when there were Treats and Balls at the 
Reader's expence ; and there is an Order of 
the House, of no very old date, by which the 
Reader was restrained from having above 
Eight Servants, which shews, in some mea- 



326 MEMORANDA RELATIVE TO 

sure, the luxury and expence attending them. 
They have now been discontinued upwards of 
seventy years (the last Reader being Sir 
William Whitlocke, 1684); hut there is a 
Reader still appointed every year, and some 
small Treat, at the expence of the Society, of 
Venison, &c. ; and the Arms of the Reader 
are put up in a Pannel in the Hall. 

Mr. Bohun, the Writer of several excellent 
Books in different branches of the Law, 
having, when he was Reader at New T Inn, 
put up a question tending to Blasphemy, (I 
think it was, whether the Person of our Sa- 
viour was God,) was eoccommoned by the So- 
cietv ; that is, he was denied the privilege of 
coming into the Hail, and at the same time 
obliged to pay for full Commons. They 
judged expulsion too mild a punishment. 

The Old Hall stood on the South side of 
Pump Court, which, upon building a new one, 
was converted into Sets of Chambers ; and 
which, by Order of Queen Elizabeth, were not 
to exceed eight in number. This was soon after 
pulled down, and Chambers built in its stead. 



THE SOCIETY OF THE TEMPLE. 32f 

Library. — Left by Will to the Society, by 
Astley, a Bencher of it. It contains about 
Nine Thousand Volumes. Besides this, he 
left a Set of Chambers, value three hundred 
pounds, for the maintenance of a Librarian, 
who at first was a Barrister; but, not being 
thought worth their acceptance, it is now in 
the Butler. 

Present Hall. — Built by Plowden, who 
was seven years in perfecting it. He was 
three years Treasurer successively ; and after 
he quitted the Treasurership, he still con- 
tinued the direction of the Building. 

The Temple Organ was made by Smith. 
The Societies, being resolved to have a good 
Organ, employed one Smith and one Harris 
to make each of them an Organ, value five 
hundred pounds ; and promised that they 
would give seven hundred pounds for that 
which proved the best. This was accord- 
ingly done, and Smith's was preferred and 
purchased. The other, made by Harris, was 



328 SOCIETY OF THE TEMPLE. 

sold to Christ-Church in Dublin ; but, being 
afterwards exchanged for another made by 
By field for four hundred pounds difference, 
it was sold by Byfield to the Church at 
Woolwich % 

Inns of Chancery, like the Halls at Ox- 
ford. 

New-Inn belongs to the Middle Temple ; 
and at the expiration of a long lease, the 
Fee Simple will be vested in us. 

* Mr. Snetzler* 



329 



§3>tmnel 

' f Simnel. — Siminellus from the Latin Sin 
mila, which signifies the Finest Part of the 
Flour. Panis similageneus, Simnel Bread. 
It is mentioned in 'Assisa Panis ;* and is still 
in use, especially in Lent. Bread made into 
a Simnel shall weigh two shillings less than 
Wastell Bread." Stat. 51 Henry III. 

The Statute, intituled Assisa Panis et Cer-- 
visiae, made Anno 51 Hen. III. Stat. I. ; 
and Anno Dom. 1266. Cotton MS. Clau- 
dius, D. 2. 

Panis verb de siminello pondera- 

bit minus de Wastello de duobus solidis, quia 
bis coctus est. 

For the Ordinance for the Assise and 
Weight of Bread in the City of London, see 
Stowe's Survey, p. 740, Edit. 1633. 

It was sometime called Simnelhis, as in 
the Annals of the Church of Winchester, 
under the year 1042. " Rex Edwardus in- 
stituit, et carta confirmayit, ut quoties ipse 



330 



SIMNEL. 



vel aliquis Successoruin suorum Regutn 
Angliae diadema portaret Wintonise vel 
Wigornise vel Westmonasterii ; Preecentor 
loci recipiet de fisco ipsa die dimidiam 
marcam, et conventus centum Sumnellos et 
unun modium vini." Bat, indeed, the true 
reading is Siminel. 

The English Simnel was the purest White 
Bread, as in the Book of Battle Abbey. 
u Panem Regiae Mensae aptam, qui Simenel 
vulgb vocatur *.-'* 

Simula, — A Manchet, a White Loaf. 
Among the Customs of the Abbey of Glas- 
tonbury : " In diebus solemnibus, cum Fra- 
tres fuerunt in cappis, Medonem habuerunt 
in Justis, et Simulas super mensam, et vinum 
ad caritatem, et tria generalia." Chartular. 
Abbat. Glaston. MS. fol. 10. 

For the use of Saffron, now used for co- 
louring the Crust of the Simnel, see Shake- 
spear's Winter's Tale; where the Clown 
(Act iv.) says, " Then I must have Saffron 
to colour the Warden Pyes." 

* Cowell's Interpreter, See also Blount's Glossary, 
in voce. 



331 



SDrtgm of Cfwteen Pence ©aifpeting, 



AS 



HANGMAN'S WAGES; 

In a Letter to Edward King, Esq. 
President of the Society of Antiquaries. 

The vulgar notion, though it will not ap- 
pear to be a vulgar error, is, that Thirteen 
Pence Halfpenny is the fee of the Executioner 
in the common line of business at Tyburn % 
and therefore is called Hangman's Wages. 
The sum is singular, and certainly there is a 

* The Executions, on ordinary occasions, were re- 
moved from this memorable place, and were ptr- 
frr.ned in the street of the Old Bailey, at the door of 
Newgate. This was first practised on the 9th of De- 
cember 1783. See the printed account. Every of 
these Executions, I was told by Mr. Reed, 1785, is at- 
tended with an expence of upwards of nine pounds. 
Twenty persons were hanged at once in February 
1785. 



332 THIRTEEN PENCE HALFPENNY, 

reason for its having obtained so odious an 
appellation, though it may not be very ob- 
vious. 

We find that anciently this Office was, in 
some parts of the Kingdom, annexed to 
other Posts ; for the Porter of the City of 
Canterbury was the Executioner for the 
County of Kent, temporibus Hen. II, and 
Hen. III. for which he had an allowance 
from the Sheriff, who was re-imbursed from 
the Exchequer, of Twenty Shillings per an- 
num *. 

Though this is an Office in great and ge- 
neral disesteem, yet the Sheriffs are much 
obliged to those who will undertake it, as 
otherwise the unpleasant and painful duty 
must fall upon themselves. They are the 
persons to whom the Law looks for its com- 
pletion, as they give a Receipt to the Gaoler 
for the Bodies of condemned Criminals whom 
they are to punish, or cause to be punished, 
according to their respective Sentences. The 
business is of such an invidious nature, that, 

* Madox's History of the Exchequer, ii. p. 373. 



or hangman's wages. 333 

in the Country, Sheriffs have sometimes had 
much difficulty to procure an Executioner, 
as, in the eyes of the lower people, it carries 
with it a Stigma, apart from any shock that 
it must give to Humanity and Compassion. 
I remember a very few years ago, if the 
News-papers said true, the Sheriff of one of 
the Inland Counties was very near being 
obliged to perform the unwelcome Office 
himself. 

So that in fact the Hangman is the She- 
riff's immediate Deputy in criminal matters, 
though there is always, at present, an Under- 
Sheriff for civil purposes. But, before I bring 
you to the point in question, it will not be 
amiss to lead you gradually to it, by in- 
quiring into the nature and dignity of the 
Office in some particulars, and into the Rank 
of the Officer, for we have all heard of Squire 
Ketch. These will be found to be sup- 
portable matters, as well as the Fee of Office, 
which is our ground- work. 

The Sheriff is, by being so styled in the 
King's Patent under the Great Seal, an Es- 
quire, which raises him to that Rank, unless 



334 THIRTEEN PENCE HALFPENNY, 

he has previously had the Title adventi- 
tiously. None were anciently chosen to this 
Office, hut such Gentlemen whose fortunes 
and stations would warrant it; so, on the other 
hand, Merchants, and other liberal branches 
of the lower order, were admitted first into 
the rank of Gentlemen, by a grant of Arms, 
on proper qualifications, from the Earl 
Marshal, and the Kings of Arms, respect- 
ively, according to their Provinces. After a 
Negotiant has become a Gentleman, courtesy 
will very soon advance that rank, and give 
the party the title of Esquire ; and so it has 
happened with the worthy Gentleman before 
us, for such I shall prove him once with ce- 
remony to have been created. This remark - 
able case happened in the year 1616, and was 
as follows. Ralph Brooke, whose real name 
was Brokesmouth, at that time York Herald, 
not content with being mischievous, was the 
most turbulent and malicious man that ever 
wore the King's Coat. After various malver- 
sations in Office, not to the present purpose, 
he put a trick upon Sir William Segar, Gar- 
ter King of Arms, which had very nearly cost 



or hangman's wages. 335 

both of them their places. The story is 
touched upon in Mr. Anstis's Register of the 
Order of the Garter * ; but is more fully and 
satisfactorily related in the Life of Mr. Cam- 
den, prefixed to his "Britannia," to this effect 
Ralph Brooke employed a person to carry a 
Goat of Arms ready drawn to Garter, and to 
pretend it belonged to one Gregory Brandon, 
a Gentleman who had formerly lived in 
London, but then residing in Spain, and to 
desire Garter to set his hand to it. To pre- 
vent deliberation, the messenger was in- 
structed to pretend that the vessel, which was 
to carry this confirmation into Spain, when 
it had received the Seal of the Office and 
Garter's Hand, was just ready to sail*j\ This 
being done, and the Fees paid, Brooke car- 
ries it to Thomas Earl of Arundel, then one 
of the Commissioners for executing the Office 
of Earl Marshal ; and, in order to vilify Garter, 

* Vol. ii. p. 399. 

f These Arms actually appear in Edmondson's 
Body of Heraldry, annexed to the name of Brandon, 
viz. the Arms of Arragon with a difference, and the 
Arms of Brabant in a Canton. 



336 THIRTEEN PENCE HALFPENNY, 

and to represent him as a rapacious negligent 
Officer, assures his Lordship that those were 
the Arms of Arragon, with a Canton for 
Brabant, and that Gregory Brandon was a 
mean and inconsiderable person. This was 
true enough ; for he was the common Hang- 
man for London and Middlesex. Ralph 
Brooke afterwards confessed all these circum- 
stances to the Commissioners who repre- 
sented the Earl Marshal ; the consequence of 
which was, that Garter was, by order of the 
King, when he heard the case, committed to 
Prison for negligence, and the Herald for 
treachery. Be this as we find it, yet was 
Gregory Brandon the Hangman become a 
Gentleman, and, as the Bastard says in King 
John, " could make any Joan a Gentle- 
woman." 

Thus w T as this Gregory Brandon advanced, 
perhaps from the state of a Convict, to the 
rank of a Gentleman ; and though it was a 
personal honour to himself, notwithstanding 
it was surreptitiously obtained by the Herald, 
of which Gregory Brandon, Gentleman, was 
perhaps ignorant, yet did it operate so much 



9^ , __^ OO^ 



OR HANGMAN S WAGES. 33/ 

on his successors in office, that afterwards it 
became transferred from the Family to the 
Officer for the time being ; and from Mr, 
Brandon's popularity, though not of the most 
desirable kind, the mobility soon improved 
his rank, and, with a jocular complaisance, 
gave him the title of Esquire, which remains 
to this day. I have said that Mr. Brandon 
was perhaps a Convict ; for I know that at 
York the Hangman has usually been a par- 
doned Criminal, whose case was deemed venial^ 
and for which the performance of this painful 
duty to fellow-prisoners was thought a suffi- 
cient infliction. It seems too as if this Office 
had once, like many other important Offices 
of State, been hereditary; but whether Mr. 
Brandon had it by descent I cannot say, yet 
Shakspeare has this passage in Coriolanus # i 

" Menenius. — Marcius, in a cheap esti- 
mation, is worth all your Predecessors, since 
Deucalion ; though, peradventure, some of 
the best of them were Hereditary Hangmen." 

This looks as if the Office of Executioner 

* Act ii. sc. i. 
m 



338 THIRTEEN PENCE HALFPENNY, 

had run in some Family for a generation or 
two, at the time when Shakspeare wrote ; 
and that it was a circumstance well under- 
stood, and would be well relished, at least by 
the Galleries. This might indeed, with re- 
gard to time, point at the ancestors of Mr. 
Brandon himself; for it was in the Reign of 
King James I. that this person was, as we 
have seen, brought within the pale of Gen- 
tility. Nay, more, we are told by Dr. Grey, 
in his Notes on Shakspeare *, that from this 
Gentleman, the Hangmen, his Successors, 
bore for a considerable time his Christian 
name of Gregory, though not his Arms, they 
being a personal honour, till a greater man 
arose, viz. Jack Ketch, who entailed the 
present official name on all who have hitherto 
followed him \. 

Whether the name of Ketch be not the 
provincial pronunciation of Catch among the 
Cockneys, I have my doubts, though I have 

* Vol. ii. p. 163. 

f The Hangman was known by the name of Gre- 
gory in the year 1642, as we learn from the Mercurius 
Aulicus, p. 553. 



or hangman's wages. 339 

printed authority to confront me ; for that 
learned and laborious Compiler, B. E. Gent, 
the Editor of the Canting Dictionary, says 
that Jack Kitch, for so he spells it, was the 
real name of a Hangman, which has become 
that of all his successors. When this great 
man lived, for such we must suppose him to 
have been, and renowned for his popularity 
or dexterity, Biographical History is silent. 

So much for this important Office itself; 
and we must now look to the Emoluments 
which appertain to it, and assign a reason 
why Thirteen Pence Halfpenny should be es- 
teemed the standard Fee for this definitive 
stroke of the law. 

Hogarth has given a fine Picture of the 
sang-froid of an Executioner in his Print of 
the London Apprentice; where the Mr. Ketch 
for the time being is lolling upon the Gallows, 
and smoaking his Pipe ; waiting, with the 
utmost indifference, for the arrival of the 
Cart and the Mob that close the melancholy 
Procession. But Use becomes Nature in things 
at which even Nature herself revolts. 

Before we proceed to matters of a pecuniary 
z2 



340 THIRTEEN PENCE HALFPENNY, 

nature, having said so much upon the Exe- 
cutioner, permit me to step out of the way for 
a moment, and add a word or two on the 
Eocecutione, which will explain a Yorkshire 
saying. It was for the most unsuspected 
crime imaginable, that the truly unfortunate 
man who gave rise to the adage suffered the 
Sentence of the Law at York. He was a 
Saddler at Bawtry, and occasioned this say- 
ing, often applied among the lower people to 
a man who quits his friends too early, and 
will not stay to finish his bottle; " That he 
will be hanged for leaving his liquor, like the 
Saddler of Bawtry/' The case was this : 
There was formerly, and indeed it has not 
long been suppressed, an Ale-house, to this 
day called " The Galloius House" situate 
between the City of York and their Tyburne ; 
at which House the Cart used always to stop; 
and there the Convict and the other parties 
were refreshed with liquors ; but the rash 
and precipitate Saddler, under Sentence, and 
on his road to the fatal Tree, refused this 
little regale, and hastened on to the Place of 



or hangman's wages. 341 

Execution — when, very soon after he was 
turned-off, a Reprieve arrived; insomuch that, 
had he stopped, as was usual, at the Gallows 
House, the time consumed there would have 
heen the means of saving his life ; so that he 
was hanged, as truly as unhappily, for leaving 
his liquor. 

The same compliment w r as anciently paid 
to Convicts, on their passage to Tyburne, at 
St. Giles's Hospital; for we are told by 
Stowe * s that they were there presented with 
a Bowl of Ale, called " St* Giles's Bowl;" 
"thereof to drink at their pleasure, as their last 
refreshing in this life." This place (Tyburne) 
was the established scene of Executions in 
common cases so long ago as the first year of 
King Henry IV; Smithfield and St. Giles's 
Field being reserved for persons of higher 
rank, and for crimes of uncommon magnitude ; 
such as treason and heresy: in the last of these, 
Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, was burnt* 
or rather roasted, alive ; having been hanged 

* History of London, vol. II. p. 74, 



342 THIRTEEN PENCE HALFPENNY, 

up over the fire by a chain which went round 
his waist *. 

The Execution of the Duke of Monmouth 
(in July 1685) was peculiarly unsuccessful 
in the operation. 

The Duke said to the Executioner, " Here 
are Six Guineas for you : pray do your busi- 
ness well ; do not serve me as you did my 
Lord Russell : I have heard you struck him 
three or four times. Here" (to his Servant) ; 
f* take these remaining Guineas, and give 
them to him if he does his work well." 

Executioner, — " 1 hope 1 shall." 

Monmouth. — " If vou strike me twice, I 
cannot promise you not to stir. Pr'ythee 
let me feel the Axe." He felt the edge, and 
said, " I fear it is not sharp enough." 

Executioner.—" It is sharp enough, and 
heavy enough." 

The Executioner proceeded to do his office ; 

* Rapin. See also Bale's Life and Trial of Sir 
John Oldcastle. St. Giles's was then an independent 
Village, and is still called St. Giles's in the Fields, to 
distinguish it from St. Giles's, Cripplegate; being both 
in the same Diocese. 



or hangman's wages. 343 

but the Note says, " it was under such dis- 
traction of mind, that he fell into the very 
error which the Duke had so earnestly cau- 
tioned him to avoid ; wounding him so slightly, 
that he lifted up his head, and looked him in 
the face, as if to upbraid him for making his 
death painful ;- but said nothing. He then 
prostrated himself again, and received two 
other ineffectual blows ; upon which the Exe- 
cutioner threw down his Axe in a fit of horror; 
crying out, " he could not finish his work ;'* 
but, on being brought to himself by the threats 
of the Sheriffs, took up the fatal weapon again, 
and at two other strokes made a shift to sepa- 
rate the Head from the Body/' [LordSomers's 
Tracts, vol. I. pp. 219, 220 ; the Note taken 
from the Review of the Reigns of Charles 
and James, p. 885.] 

As to the Fee itself, which has occasioned 
me to give you so much trouble, I incline to 
think this seeming singular sum must have 
been of Scottish extraction, though not used 
for the like purpose; for, I presume, from 
the value of money there, a man might for- 
merly be hanged at a much cheaper rate, and 



344 THIRTEEN PENCE HALFPENNY, 

that we have it by transplantation. The 
Scottish Mark (not ideal or nominal money, 
like our Mark) was a Silver Coin, in value 
Thirteen Pence Halfpenny and Two Placks, 
or Two-Thirds of a Penny ; which Plack is 
likewise a Coin. This, their Mark, bears the 
same proportion to their Pound, which is 
Twenty Pence, as our Mark does to our 
Pound, or Tw T enty Shillings ; being Two- 
Thirds of it. By these divisions and sub- 
divisions of their Penny (for they have a still 
smaller piece, called a Bodel or Half a Plack) 
they can reckon with the greatest minuteness, 
and buy much less quantities of any article 
than we can % This Scottish Mark was, 
upon the Union of the two Crowns in the 
person of King James I. made current in 
England at the value of Thirteen Pence Half- 
penny (without regarding the fraction), by 
Proclamation, in the first year of that King ; 
where it is said, that " the Coin of Silver, 
called the Mark Piece, shall be from hence- 
forth currant within the said Kingdom of 

* Mr. Ray, in his Itinerary, gives the Fractional 
Parts of the Scottish Penny. 



or hangman's wages. 343 

England, at the value of Thirteen Pence 
Halfpeny *." This, probably, was a revo- 
lution in the current money in favour of the 
Officer of whom we have been speaking, whose 
Fee before was perhaps no more than a Shil- 
ling. There is, however, very good reason 
to conclude, from the singularity of the sum, 
that the odious title of Hangman 9 s Wages 
became at this time, or soon after, applicable 
to the sum of Thirteen Pence Halfpenny. 
Though it was contingent, yet at that time it 
was very considerable pay; when one Shilling 
'per diem was a standing annual stipend to 
many respectable Officers of various kinds. 

After having discovered the pay of an 
Office, one naturally inquires for Perquisites 
and other Emoluments ; for all posts, from 
the High Chancellor to the Hangman, carry 
some ; and which, in many cases, as well as 
this, often exceed the established pay itself. 
Nothing can well vary more than the Per-r 
quisites of this Office ; for it is well known 

* The Proclamation may be seen in Strype's An- 
nals, vol. IV. p. 384 ; where the Mark-Piece is valued 
exactly at Thirteen Pence Halfpenny. 



346 THIRTEEN PENCE HALFPENNY, 

that Jack Ketch has a Post-obit interest in 
the Convict, being entitled to his Cloaths, or 
to a composition for them ; though, on the 
other hand, they must very frequently he 
such Garments that, as Shakspeare says, 
" a Hangman would bury with those who 
wore them *." 

This emolument is of no modern date; and 
has an affinity to other Droits on very dis- 
similar occasions, which will be mentioned 
presently. The Executioner's perquisite is 
at least as old as Henry VIII. ; for Sir 
Thomas More, on the morning of his Exe- 
cution, put on his best Gown, which was of 
Silk Camlet, sent him as a present, while he 
w r as in the Tower, by a Citizen of Lucca 
with whom he had been in correspondence ; 
but the Lieutenant of the Tower was of opi- 
nion that a worse Gown would be good 
enough for the person who was to have it, 
meaning the Executioner, and prevailed upon 
Sir Thomas to change it, which he did for 
one made of frize f. Thus the antiquity of 

* Coriolanus, Act i. Sc. 8. 

f More's Life of Sir Thomas More, p. 271. 



or hangman's wages. 347 

this obitual emolument, so well known in 
Shakspeare's time, seems well established ; 
and, as to its nature, has a strong resem- 
blance to a fee of a much longer standing, 
and formerly received by Officers of very 
great respectability : for anciently Garter 
King of Arms had specifically the Gown of 
the Party on the creation of a Peer; and 
again, when Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, 
and Priors, did homage to the King, their 
upper garment was the perquisite even of the 
Lord Chamberlain of the Household. The 
fee in the latter case was always compounded 
for, though Garter's was often formerly re- 
ceived in kind, inasmuch as the Statute which 
gives this fee to the Lord Chamberlain, di- 
rects the composition, because, as the words 
are, " it is more convenient that religious 
men should fine for their upper garment, than 
to be stripped *." The same delicate ne- 
cessity does not operate in the Hangman's 
case ; and his fee extends much farther than 
either of them, he being entitled to all the 
sufferer's garments, having first rendered 

* Stat. 13 Edward I. 



348 hangman's wages. 

them useless to the party. Besides this per- 
quisite, there has always been a pecuniary 
compliment, where it could possibly be af- 
forded, given by the Sufferer to the Execu- 
tioner, to induce him to be speedy and dex- 
terous in the operation, which seems to be 
of still greater antiquity ; for Sir Thomas 
More tells us that St. Cyprian, Bishop of 
Carthage, gave his Executioner thirty pieces 
of gold; and Sir Thomas himself gave (ac- 
cording to his Historian, his Great Grand- 
son), on the like occasion, an angel of gold, 
being almost the last penny he had left. 
These outward gifts may likewise be under- 
stood as tokens of inward forgiveness. 

Upon the whole, Sir, I conceive that 
what I have offered above, though with 
much enlargement, is the meaning of the 
ignominious term affixed to the sum of Thir- 
teen Pence Halfpenny ; and cannot but com- 
miserate those for whom it is to be paid. 

I am, Sir, 

Your faithful humble Servant, 
SAMUEL PEGGE. 



349 



CUSTOM 



OBSERVED BY THE 



LORD LIEUTENANTS OF IRELAND, 



On the great road from London to West 
Chester, we find, at the principal Inns, the 
Coats of Arms of several Lord Lieutenants of 
Ireland, framed, and hung up in the hest 
rooms. At the bottom of these Armorial 
Pictures (as I may call them) is a full dis- 
play of all the Titles of the Party, together 
with the date of the year when each Vice- 
roy ship commenced. I have often inquired 
the reason of this custom, but never could 
procure a satisfactory answer. I do not re- 
probate the idea of this relique of ancient 
dignity, as these Heraldic Monuments were 
doubtless intended to operate as public evi- 
dences of the passage of each Lord-Deputy 
to his delegated Government. They now 



350 LORD LIEUTENANTS OF IRELAND. 

seem only to be preserved for the gratification 
of the vanity of the capital Inn-keepers, by 
shewing to Humble Travellers that such and 
such Lord-Lieutenants did them the honour 
to stop at their houses ; and yet I will not 
say, but that for half-a-crown handsomely 
offered to his Excellency's Gentleman, they 
might likewise become part of the furniture 
of every alehouse in Dunstable. 

After fruitless inquiry, accident furnished 
me with the ground of this custom, which 
now only serves to excite a little transitory 
curiosity. Having occasion to look into 
Sir Dudley Digge's "■ Complete Ambassa- 
dor/' published in 1654, I was obliged to 
the Editor for a solution, who, in the Pre- 
face (signed A. H.), speaking of the reserve 
of the English Ambassadors, in not making 
public their Negotiations, has this observa- 
tion : — " We have hardly any notion of them 
but by their Arms, which are hung up in 
Inns where they passed." 

This paragraph at once accounts for the 
point before us, and is sufficient, at the same 
time, to shew that the custom was anciently. 



LORD LIEUTENANTS OF IRELAND. 351 

and even in the seventeenth century, com- 
mon to every Amhassador, though it now 
only survives with those who go in the 
greater and more elevated line of Royal re- 
presentation to Ireland. 

SAMUEL PEGGE. 



THE END, 



Of the Publishers of this Work may be had 

ANONYMIANA; 

OR, 

TEN CENTURIES OF OBSERVATIONS 

ON VARIOUS AUTHORS AND SUBJECTS j 

(Compiled by the late very Learned and Reverend 

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With a copious Index. Svo. Price 1 2s. 

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Gent. Map;. 1809. 



ANECDOTES 

OF THE 

ENGLISH LANGUAGE, 

chiefly regarding the Local Dialect of London and its Environs • 
whence it will appear, that the Natives of the Metropolis, and 
its Vicinities, have not corrupted the Language of their An- 
cestors. 

By SAMUEL PEGGE, Esq. F.S.A. 
Second Edition, enlarged and corrected. 

To which is added, A SUPPLEMENT to the PROVINCIAL 
GLOSSARY of FRANCIS GROSE, Esq. 

8yo. Price 12s. boards. 
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